Tribalism: An ambiguous tool for tools

Poor Ngizwe Mchunu, formerly of Ukhozi FM fame, no longer drives his JAC-sponsored vehicle.

That’s because they took it away from him and he thought it was clever to tell Juju to head back to Limpopo because of his less-than-Zulu credentials.

Apparently, pre-apology, in the narrative of Mchunu, that made Juju ineligible to campaign in Natal. Apparently, that’s a narrative that upsets South Africans. Apparently, that’s an upset that can’t be offset by an apology…so the dude lost his car.

The whole thing is annoyingly juvenile though it did compel me to retrace steps back to some 2016 Judicial Service Commission interviews; particularly one where Malema climbed into Adv Peter Fischer.

It was a painful interview to watch though there was a particular narrative that arose around language.

In sum, Peter was hauled over the coals for claiming to be an African but being unable to speak an indigenous language, particularly SeSotho since he was located in the Free State.

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Whatever other contributions he had made to the transformation of the practice of law and his legal prowess seemed insignificant next to his inability to speak the additional language.

He certainly didn’t do himself any favours by claiming that he “self-identified as an African because of an affinity to the continent’s soil, colour and sound” but to hone in on the single inability as an offset to any ability seems somewhat…tribal.

Needless to say, Fischer never was recommended for the bench largely because he couldn’t speak SeSotho while claiming to be working for South Africans as an African.

Against that background, I found it strange that the EFF supporters had disregarded this when calling for Mchunu’s punishment. Perhaps they forgot or don’t watch JSC interviews.

Perhaps they don’t believe the two matters are relative. Maybe their views have changed in the years or the language card is only meant to be played when the wind is blowing in your favour.

There are certainly times when the world has turned a blind eye to the failings of individuals in the interest of progress. Remember when a Nazi surrendered to Uncle Sam and put some Americans on the moon?

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Delegitimizing the political agency of any person based on a singular factor may be justified but you need to actively make the justification.

You may think the doctor living next door is an idiot for supporting Orlando Pirates but if you’re having a medical emergency, that won’t stop you from knocking on their door. You would, however, avoid going to them, even in an emergency, if you knew that they killed 97% of their patients.

Speaking the language, being from the area, having the right accent; it all may be relevant but without being able to tell you how, it probably isn’t.

It’s pretty selfish because it assumes a single set of characteristics of the electorate and imposes a standard of how they should vote. No freedom fighter died for that.

Freedom fighters fought so that any adult citizen could vote for who they thought was the best representative for them. It affords individuals the agency to make the choice themselves.

If the individuals cannot understand the person speaking to them, then it’s the problem of the idiot speaking to them but one cannot deny them the opportunity to speak because they’re not speaking the language you impose.

It’s dumb to even try to deny Juju’s agency based on his tribal heritage. It’s not like the ANC flip-flops votes depending on whether there’s a Xhosa or Zulu dude in charge.

I’d defy Mchunu to get his buddy JZ to call on the Zulu nation to vote for his MK party or whatever it will be called on the exclusive strength of him being Zulu. They’ll probably try it in subtle ways but there’s a reason nobody outrightly says it; it’s stupid, isolating and doesn’t give the slightest hint of delivery. One may even say it’s racist.

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We’ve seen it. We’ve identified we don’t like it. Now it’s time to shut it down. When there’s a hint of vote for me because of what I am, there is more to answer for…

So you can speak my language. Cool. Can you deliver in my language? If not, I’d prefer to get the delivery in a language I don’t understand instead of a pile of nothing in a language that I do.