Three Trends on the National Question in South Africa

The reputed African philosopher Odera Oruka has sparked a famous debate on the nature of African philosophy following his essay entitled “Four Trends in African philosophy”. In this significant essay, he divided African philosophy into four trends, namely Ethnophilosophy, Professional philosophy, Nationalistic-Ideological philosophy, and Philosophic Sagacity. The Nationalistic-Ideological school deals mainly with African political philosophical ideas such as African nationalism. There is no adequate engagement with the national question in “post-Apartheid” South Africa from the perspective of African philosophy. Of course, part of the reason is the “marginalisation of African philosophy” in South Africa and the persistent problem of racism. This racism is also at the heart of the call for Cape Independence, the existence of Orania and the nostalgia for Apartheid. In addition to these issues, the so-called post-Apartheid South Africa has been in the dysphoric hell of the unravelling of the “rainbow nation of God” for many years. Several political parties and movements have emerged to attempt to resolve this political issue of nation-building and social cohesion.

The South African history of the problem of nationalism and nation-building is long and complex. While political parties promote their manifestoes to attract voters, they do not explain in explicit terms their ideas on the national question. Many of these parties seem to confine themselves to politics of efficiency such as the provision of services that are associated with governance. Many political leaders will retort by claiming that voters will not eat ideologies and political visions. This implies that it is the work of intellectuals to analyse and tease out the ideological orientation and political visions of these parties. There are many intellectuals in South African history who have attempted to write on the national question. These include the likes of Anton Lembede, Neville Alexandra, Archie Mafeje and Jabulani “Mzala” Nxumalo. But most of the writings of these South African intellectuals were reflecting on the national question in relation to the Apartheid regime. While there are few books which analyse the writings on these intellectuals and their theorisation of the national question, there is no sufficient and solid discussion about the national question in the context of the so-called post-Apartheid South Africa. The controversy regarding the Cape Independence and Orania is fundamentally about the national question. Should South Africa remain a unified State or be fragmented through secession? This question lies at the core of the issue of nationalism and nation-building. South Africa as a white settler colony to this day, has a complex history of nationalism and the national question. Because of conquest in wars of colonisation since 1652, the issues of nationalism and nation-building are fundamentally about the land question. White settler colonialism which began with land dispossession by European conquerors in 1652 is the main historical and political context of the national question in South Africa. There is a dialectic of thesis and antithesis in relation to the national question. The thesis is white nationalism of white settlers while the antithesis is the reaction of the Indigenous people in various forms to this disastrous encroachment by European conquerors. The main antagonism has always been about the settler and the native. Different ideologies are utilised by these two main antagonists in the struggle for the resolution of the national question. These different ideologies have resulted in at least three trends on the national question in South Africa.

The first trend is the white supremacist trend of white settlers. This trend has emerged due to land dispossession and the racist attempts by white settlers to make Azania their home and to rule over the natives they have conquered. This trend of white settlers is based on white supremacy. While white settlers fight among themselves as they always did during their time in Europe, they close ranks as whites in relation to the natives. The British settlers have always preferred to assimilate the natives on the basis of what they consider to be their superior Western civilization and culture. This is what informed the two British colonies such as the Cape and Natal. It is this subtle racist arrogance which informs the call for Cape independence. The Dutch settlers on the other hand prefer to exclude the natives from their nation-building projects. This frank spirit of white supremacy was behind the creation of the two Boer republics. It is the same spirit which informs the existence of Orania today, the current successor to these Boer republics.

The second trend is the Marxist trend which consists of the combination of some Indigenous people and their white communists. Two comrades epitomise this trend, namely Comrade Nosizwe (Neville Alexandra) of the Unity movement and Comrade Mzala (Jabulani Nxumalo) of the Congress movement. On the basis of the Azanian Manifesto comrade Nosizwe envisioned “one Azania and one Nation”. This is in essence as socialist Azania controlled by workers irrespective of race. The so-called Freedom Charter is the foundation of a non-racial united democratic South Africa as envisioned by comrade Mzala and his Congress movement of the ANC, SACP and Cosatu. The third trend is the Pan-Africanist trend. This trend comprises the Africanist school of Anton Lembede which called for “Africa for the Africans” thus Europe for the Europeans and Asia/India for the Asians/Indians. The other school of this trend is the Azanian school of Robert Sobukwe and Steve Biko which called for a post-white supremacy unified Azania in which the African majority will assimilate foreign minorities such as whites and Indians. African culture and democracy will be the dominant “terms of order”. Given the arrogant resurgence of the white supremacist trend in the form of the Cape Independence and Orania as well as the dismal failure of the second trend of the Congress movement, it is time to call for the third trend especially the Africanist school of Lembede.

Masilo Lepuru
A Researcher and founding director of the Institute for Kemetic and Marcus Garvey Studies (IKMGS).