WATCH: Whites protected by ‘house negro’ ANC, says Bonginkosi Khanyile

Student protest leader Bonginkosi Khanyile came out guns blazing in an attack on the ANC, which he says is a “house negro government”.

Addressing more than 1300 shop stewards in the New Trade Union Federation in Durban on Sunday, Khanyile repeated the stereotype from the US slave era of what he calls “two types” of black people – a “house and field negro”.

The new federation’s leader, Zwelinzima Vavi, tweeted the video of Khanyile, with the question about who the “house niggas” are that Khanyile was talking about.

In a similar analogy once given by human rights activist Malcolm Little, known as Malcolm X, Khanyile said that “house negros” empathise with their master, and “in fact”, stand in the way of the freedom of “field negros” because they are the “first that tells the master that they [the field negros] are coming for your head”.

The EFF-aligned student leader then took a swipe at the ANC-led government, calling it a “house negro government” that protects the needs of white people. It’s not clear if Khanyile was speaking on behalf of the EFF or in his personal capacity, but he said that there was no way “we can fight white monopoly capital” without first dealing with the “house negro”, which in this case, he claims, is the ANC government.

“There are two types of negros. There are two types of black people. There’s a house negro, and then there’s a field negro. Now what happens? You have a master, and you have a house negro. A house negro stays inside the master’s house. A house negro cleans for a master.

“When a master goes to town, a house negro can even enjoy sleeping on a bed of a master because a master is out.

“When a master is in town, or after the master has enjoyed his supper, a house negro ends up enjoying the crumbs … the leftovers of the master.

“We have a field negro who works in the field … outside. The anger of the field negro vis-à-vis the anger of a house negro is not equal. In fact, in most revolutions, a house negro is very dangerous. Because when you, as a field negro, you want to go and overthrow the master, it is the house negro first that tells the master that they are coming for your head.

“Now, the young boys of the ANC Youth League, they must not say when we are dealing with the house negro government … because white people are not protected by anyone else. They are protected by the house negro government.”

Khanyile, who spent more than five months in prison after violent student protests that saw institutional property vandalised, ridiculed the ANC for arresting students when they protested for free education last year. He also slated the ruling party for the Marikana massacre, in which 34 protesting mine workers were gunned down in one day by the police.

“[This is] the very same government that when we march for free education they arrest us.

“When we want a living wage in Marikana, they kill us. We are not killed by [Hendrik] Verwoerd, we are killed by a house negro government in defence of Verwoerd, Mr Van der Merve and others.

“So when we want to crush them, they must not say we must go to white monopoly capital. How do we go for white monopoly capital because you are standing in our way? We have not forgotten about white monopoly capital. But we are saying we must pass through you, crush you first and reach the master in the house.”

The New Trade Union Federation, headed former Cosatu secretary general by Zwelinzima Vavi, will officially launch next month with 21 unions under its umbrella.