Ndlozi ‘is being the crowbar of whites’

EFF MP and national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has come under fire from activist and former EFF member Andile Mngxitama, as well as others, for his views on black consciousness.

Ndlozi argued that black consciousness is not “merely being black skinned”, but a “mental attitude”. He argued that “to fight for black people is not a matter of colour”.

He added that black people needed to fight for themselves, “but the mere fact of their being black is no sign that they will fight for blackness!”

“Merely by being black-skinned it doesn’t make u black conscious! To fight for black people is not a matter of color; it’s a mental attitude!” wrote Ndlozi on Twitter.

“Black people have to fight for themselves, but the mere fact of their being black is no sign that they will fight for blackness!

“The illusion that we must fast disabuse ourselves from is to think that merely being black means a person will fight for black people!”

This argument did not sit well with Black First Land First (BLF) leader Mngxitama, who calls himself a Bikoist, coined after the surname of Black Consciousness Movement founder Steve Biko.

For Mxngitama and other BLF members, black consciousness is about “blacks only”, adding that “we reject whites from black struggles”.

“That’s your bc [Black Consciousness] from London chief. Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness is about BLACKS ONLY,” said Mngxitama in response to Ndlozi.

Another BLF member, Ncedisa Mpemnyama, responded to Ndlozi, saying: “Biko of ndlozi is a Biko divorced from his soul-his politics. His a gobho-gobho Biko”, adding that: “Ndlozi is being the crow bar of whites. We reject whites from black struggles he invites them”.

This is exactly what I realised in FMF. Mare I learnt that we mustn't alienate but educate. We still love you 'sell outs'.

— Mohau (@MohauLecheko) January 14, 2017

However, Biko, in a paper produced for a SASO Leadership Training Course in December 1971, said that “being black is not a matter of pigmentation – being black is a reflection of a mental attitude”. This view was also reflected in his collection of writings, I Write What I Like.