Purity, Certainty and other intellectual vices . . .

Andile Mngxitama is nothing less than a gem. He would of course not take kindly to being called a black diamond but a gem he is. There is never a doubt in his mind (as reflected in his writing) on the issues he holds dear. He provokes thought and debate and all things dear to a healthy democracy.

In this, his latest offering in Sowetan, he pulls no punches. This piece is one in a chain whose recent link was this post on Thought Leader, by Sentletse Diakanyo. Sentletse like Andile habours no doubts about his views. Please take time to read these two pieces of riveting reading; while you are at it, read a whole lot of other writings and offerings by these two writers - it is the right thing to do.

Unlike Andile and Sentletse I am not so certain on the question of who is an African. It is with this uncertainty that I disagree with Sentletse. There was a time when there was no Africa, no Europe and no Blacks. The physical land mass we now affectionately refer to as Africa was there but I am not sure what it was called before the days of compasses, discovery and conquest. I suppose if the question Sentletse was answering was "who were the Africans?" then I would agree with him.

What I find most disagreeable in the piece by Sentletse is his reliance on the term Black as if it is real. On what basis do we now rely on a social construct to support a proposition of what is fact? There seems to be some reality that dictates the identity of an African outside of the meaning of where such is located. To illustrate: we look to Nigeria for Nigerians and Namibia for Namibians. So, at a certain level African should similarly denote those who are located within the extent of this land mass.

It may well be true that many years ago, long before the white man came to Africa, it was the home of the Black people. The problem is that before the white man came, there were no Black people. Those were created by the white man. In spite of all sorts of horrible things visited upon Africa by the settlers, Africa is here and is populated by its people - the Africans. These however come in all manner of shapes, colours and interests.

Now what point is there to the declaration of being or not being an African? So I am an African, me and Van der Walt both, so what? This is a question Andile asks. To him, unless you have a point to make about being or not being an African, you best shut up on the matter. It contributes nothing to the betterment of the down-trodden (I am putting words into his pen here). Well, it is the Blacks among the Africans who are cowards - I believe Andile meant to say. In fairness to the Blacks though - the horse bolted when the nation decided back in the 90's to just get the hell on. In short, we got played. One can understand how we got to be played. I mean we were so excited to be free to go and come and go again as we please, in our own country, that we forgot to focus on the detail. Besides, when the guys in charge have been out of the country for so long (yes, Robben Island is out of the country) how could they know better?

All this talk about African coming only in one colour like the old ford is dated if you ask me - just look at the ford fiesta, it too has come a long way since the famous words of Mr Ford. Africa has come a long way too. Even though some countries still view albinos with suspicion, Africa has come a long way since the days Sentletse speak of. In any event I would rather listen to what Sobukwe had to say on matter African rather than some automaker.

To now insist on purity and certainty would probably be intellectually mischevious if not downright devious.