White people ‘invented’ black tribes, warns prof, criticising Heritage Day

As President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday led a virtual ceremony marking the countrywide celebrations of Heritage Day, a leading political analyst called on South Africans to frankly discuss the negative impact of colonialism on black heritage, when tribalism was used to sow divisions.

Amid the colourful tribal and race regalia, which are fashionable during Heritage Day to denote South Africa’s multicultural diversity, University of Johannesburg politics professor Siphamandla Zondi reminded South Africans tribalism had been used as a weapon for the purpose of “divide and rule” during colonialism.

Zondi said: “This is an opportunity for us to reflect on what is heritage and what is heresy.

“We have to understand that not all these traditions are actually ours. Many were created, modified and made by native commissioners of the colonial government for purposes of divide and rule.

“The wearing of so-called traditional clothes is strange, because every day we wear traditional clothes that we call normal. Traditional now means some sort of frozen African past, despite everything around us being a tradition.”

Zondi said colonialism had led to black South Africans “ending our view of ourselves as abantu or batho [people] – with us ending up as different tribes”.

He added: “Tribes are a colonial invention, replacing the idea of us as abantu baka Mthaniya [descendants of Mthaniya] in the case of AmaZulu, with us so taking up an identity that has a meaning useful for the colonial project. Abantu baka Phalo [descendants of Phalo] became Xhosa during colonialism.

“During precolonial South Africa, there were no tribal tags such as Pedi, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Tsonga, Khoisan or Venda.”

Zondi said the idea of celebrating “distortions without having a frank discussion about what the heritage is and what it is not, does not help us heal the deep wounds of colonialism”.

“It gives us a bit of excitement only to come back to reality and live with our denigration – being dominated culturally and exploited. It just does not make sense to just celebrate colonial period things without attempting to understand what the precolonial period – untouched by colonialism – might have been.

“This is the period long before the ‘founders of tribes’. Let us use this period to discover the truth and remove distortions. Let us discover more about what it means to be abantu of the continent – what it means to work together for common good and what it means to take control of our destinies – not as tribes, but as abantu,” said Zondi.

In his message on Heritage Day, under the theme The year of Charlotte Maxeke: Celebrating South Africa’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ramaphosa said: “As South Africans, we share a common cultural value of respect for others – for the elderly, for women, children, people’s property and belongings.

“But we also have a deep respect for ourselves. We never use culture or tradition as a tool to oppress, discriminate or to victimise others on any other basis, including their gender, religion, sexuality or their sexual orientation.

“As South African men, we accord women and girls the highest form of respect, knowing there is never any justification to abuse, hit, kill or rape a woman.

“We are a compassionate people, we South Africans. We help others whenever we can, especially those less fortunate than ourselves.

“The South Africans that we are makes us care for the welfare of others – be they our neighbours, our neighbours’ children or strangers. We are a responsible people.”

– brians@citizen.co.za