Es'kia Mphahlele Heritage Foundation

Es'kia Mphahlele Heritage Foundation This page is meant to preserve, promote and disseminate the life and legacy of Prof. Es'kia Mphahlele He wrote essays, short stories and novels. I had no answer.

ESKIA MPHAHLELE: A South African writer whose 1959 memoir Down Second Avenue vividly dramatized the injustice of apartheid and became a landmark work of South African Literature. He was best known for Down Second Avenue a searing account of his boyhood and early manhood. (In an essay in The Star, the journalist and editor Barney Mthombothi wrote “If Nelson Mandela is our political star, Mphahlele

was his literary equivalent.) Collecting and delivering the laundry his grandmother washed for the white customers, Ezekiel learned his place in South African society.At the same time he excelled in school and attended a progressive secondary school that left him he later said detribalized, Westernized but still African. The conflict, both social and artistic, between African and Western identities would become an important theme in his work. After training as a teacher, Mr Mphahlele worked as a secretary at a school for the blind and began contributing short stories to drum, New Age and other magazines.In 1945 he married Rebecca Mochadibane. While teaching English and Afrikaans at a Johannesburg High School, he earned a B.A and M.A in English literature from the University Of South Africa and published his first book of stories Man Must Live in (1946).His career as an educator came to a sudden halt however after he publicly agitated against the discriminatory Bantu Education Act. Barred from teaching in SA he struggled to survive and in 1957 emigrated. I was suddenly seized by a desire to leave SA for more sky to soar he wrote at the end of Down Second Avenue.He was, he complained shriveling in the acid of my bitterness.In his first novel The Wanderers (1971), Mphahlele offered a sweeping view of African racial problems as seen through the eyes of an exile very much like himself. While in exile he also published two well regarded works of criticism the African Image (1962) and Voices in the Whirlwind (1972). In 1977 Mphahlele surprised friends and family by giving up his University post to return to South Africa.” I couldn’t grasp the cultural goals of Americans found them so fragmented. What am I contributing to American education? He became the first black Professor he taught African literature and created a department devoted to the subject. He also wrote two novels Chirundu (1980), Father Come Home (1984) as well as volume of memoirs Africa My Music (1984). I have provided you with a book and other information that you can use to finish your project. He is a recipient of many awards and honorary degrees from different Universities around South Africa. Received the Southern Cross from Former President Mandela. Received numerous awards for lifetime achiever. Profesor Es'kia Mphahlele died on the 27th October 2008 at the ripe age of 88years.He as received a posthumous award on the 6th of December 2008 from Mapungubwe in collaboration with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.

Invitation: The University of South Africa cordially invites you to: The 7th Es'kia Mphahlele Annual Memorial Lecture 20...
13/09/2016

Invitation:
The University of South Africa cordially invites you to: The 7th Es'kia Mphahlele Annual Memorial Lecture 2016
Theme :The African Writer As A Prophet and Social Critic in Contemporary Times.
Presenter : Dr Mamphela Ramphele.
Facilitator : Dr Somadoda Fikeni.
Panel discussants : Prof Harry Nengwekhulu, Prof Lesiba Teffo, Ms Ottilia Maunganidze.
Date : 2016.09.30 Friday
Time : 17:30 for 18:00 till 10pm
Venue: The Ranch Hotel
Dress code : Traditional or Formal.
RSVP : Mrs Bessie Molokomme
Tel :015 290 3445 or
Email: [email protected]

24/09/2014

OUR COCKTAIL OF RICH THEMES

[A Talk by Mosibudi Mangena at the 3rd Annual Polokwane Literary Fair, 11 September, 2014]

South Africa ought to be a paradise for the arts in all their forms and manifestations. I say “ought to” because it is not evident that we are aware of our blessings and more importantly, that we are consciously harnessing the tailwinds offered by our environment to fly the arts aircraft to our advantage.

We are a melting pot of colours and cultures from Africa, Europe and Asia, as well as all major religions of the world. To further enrich the brew, the African majority comes in several ethnic groups with their own languages, dialects, dances and other cultural expressions. It is a rich diversity that defied the brutal attempts by the European component of our population to destroy, or at least dilute it, using religion, the gun, political and economic domination of everyone else.

Throw into this mix, a society that is trying to discover itself after centuries of colonialism and racist oppression - a society in transition. It seems, by current evidence, that we are a society that has dressed itself up in lofty ideals as contained in the constitution of the land, but fails miserably to live by its dictates.

Our pledges to observe the equality, dignity and human rights of all are negated by the unspeakable abuses and cruelty we perpetrate against one another, especially against women and children. The rapes and murders of women and children have become so frequent that they have lost the power to shock.

Behold the disjuncture between the promise and optimism of freedom twenty years ago and the growing abject poverty, inequality and unemployment that have come to characterize our society. To add complexity to an already attractive kaleidoscope of colour for the arts, we have rampant corruption and the parading of wealth by the few before the eyes of the struggling majority.
That immediately brings to mind Thomas Mapfumo’s wailings in his song “Corruption”, about the same malady in his beloved Zimbabwe, with its catchy refrain: “something for something; nothing for nothing.”

These constitute a rich soup of topics, themes, plots, ideas and notions for our writers, poets, dramatists, musicians, painters and sculptors to thrive. It is like a huge elephant right in front of us, waiting to be eaten by those in our midst with an artistic streak, each at his or her own vantage point picking an ear, a tail, a hoof or a trunk as his or her point of concentration.

They can enjoy it without consultation with one another or team work, each using his or her own talents, perceptions, fancy or imagination to tell a story. The totality of their work would tell us who we are, because the arts are a mirror through which society sees itself.

With their generally accepted licence to do, express themselves, or even offend those in authority in a manner ordinary mortals cannot do, artists can prick our consciences and point us in the right direction. That they sometimes get into trouble, as Thomas Mapfumo and others did, including some in our country, is part of the territory.
In addition to contributing to the cultural and spiritual wellbeing of a society, the arts do add to the economic wealth of a country.

The Cape Town International Jazz Festival; other jazz festivals that take place at different times and localities in our country; the Grahamstown Arts Festival and others of its kind; the various book fairs; the export of dramas, such as Generations to other parts of our continent; the success of some of our music artists across the world, give us an idea of the economic spin-offs that the arts are capable of.

Elsewhere in the world, the Hollywoods, Nollywoods and Bollywoods show how big the arts might be in the economic space, and this is only one form thereof. In their wake, the arts provide subsistence to others in the managerial, logistics, distribution and retail spaces.

For a society with an elephant to consume, our appetite in the last twenty years has been woeful indeed. The root cause of our poor appetite is our love for other people’s things and our tendency to look askance at that which belongs to us.

The passionate love our women have for Brazilian, Pakistani and Indian hair illustrates the point. It does not matter what diseases the owners of the hair might have suffered from, or whether they are alive or not, or under what circumstances the hair was harvested, they just want that hair.
For as long as the hair is straight and does not belong to us, they want it. I would bet you my last cent that you will not find a Brazilian woman or an Indian one with African hair on her head.
If this is an attack at all, it is not on African women, but on a mentality evinced by all of us, which state of mind confronts you everywhere you go in this country and in almost every sphere of our lives.

Imagine you were from somewhere else in the world and you were blindfolded and deposited in any South African bookshop, you would not conclude that the majority in our population are African and that they speak nine different languages. The books, magazines and newspapers that invite your attention are almost all in English and most are from foreign lands.

If you were from Mars and you were to be dumped into a hotel room in South Africa and you scroll through our television channels, you would not conclude that the majority among our citizens are black and speak different languages.

Apart from news bulletins and an occasional drama, most of the material on television, especially dramas and films, are from elsewhere in the world. Again it does not seem to matter to us whether it is trash or not, as long as it is from elsewhere, we would lap it up.

It is the same mindset that would allow us to insult ourselves by declaring, in our own country, a week or month during which we would play more of our music on our radio stations. You will not encounter such a thing anywhere else in the world – the Japanese or Americans or British would not insult themselves like that. They are simply not wired to insult themselves in that fashion. It is just common sense that their own music would dominate the airwaves; they don’t even have to discuss it. They just know it.

To the extent that African hair has disappeared from the heads of our women, our music struggles to be heard on our airways and we have almost no books on the shelves of our bookshops and libraries, so would the arts struggle to flourish in our country. And thus the contribution of the arts to our economic endeavours would be puny.

That’s the more regrettable because the arts do not only contribute to the economic endeavours of a society in direct and physical ways, but also play a critical role towards shaping the cultural and spiritual milieu within which every society functions. The arts could be part of the invisible clue that binds a society together, ensuring that we are not just a collection of individuals occupying a certain geographic space, but people that do feel they belong together.

In other words, the arts could play an important role in determining whether we are a nation or not. That could in turn determine the way we play sport, observe national days, protect our country against external threats and participate in our economic life. Paradoxically, the arts might also play a role in curing some of the ills and fault lines that make South Africa such a paradise for the arts.

In addition to rewiring our heads so that we may better appreciate the richness of our environment for the arts, and whet our appetite for the elephant right in front of us, we may need to attend to a few structural things which we inherited from our inglorious past.

One of these relates to the ownership of the publishing, management and distribution of everything in the world of the arts. Whether you talk about the publishing of books, music and their distribution, the ownership and management of venues, there is an unhealthy pattern that tends to disadvantage large sections of our population.

The arts would not flourish under such circumstances. It might be necessary for the public sector to play a much bigger role in this space, especially the building, ownership and management of facilities that are crucial for the advancement of the arts.

Secondly, there is a need to tackle the language structural barrier that prevents the vast majority of our citizens from fully participating in the arts, either as artists or as consumers of the arts. Considering the generally accepted notion that most of us dream in our mother tongue and that language is the carrier of our mores, values, cultures and traditions, the marginalization of most South African languages is a tragedy for the arts.

In addition to the measures that the state might take to promote and protect our languages, the various ethnic groups, without resorting to any form of ethnic chauvinism, need to be proactive in this regard. Failure to do this would only be at the detriment of the arts. And our country would be the poorer for it.

Yes, in the last twenty years of democracy, we have nibbled a bit of the elephant in front of us, but we are still to eat it seriously. We have the potential to be a world-class Mecca for the arts. But it seems we still have to recognize the potential we have.

Mosibudi Mangena

04/09/2014

CLOSING REMARKS AT THE MISTRA NATION FORMATION AND SOCIAL COHESION REPORT PRESENTATION ON 14/08/2014, NELSON MANDELA CENTRE OF MEMORY, JHB.

By

Mosibudi Mangena

May I, right at the outset, observe that this report might rank amongst the most important Mistra would ever produce. This because all the others, whether they deal with our football or the role of platinum group metals or any other interesting subject, are only meaningful pursuits provided we have a functioning country and a peaceful, stable and cohesive society. I suppose if we were where Somalia or Libya or Iraq is today, we would be preoccupied with more frightening issues than what we are dealing with now. The fact that we are engaged in what we are doing today, suggests that we do in fact still have political stability. And that is a big positive.
In the South African political and social milieu, issues of the national question, nation formation and social cohesion are contentious and difficult, due, in no small measure, to our inglorious past. It is not that there are any reasonable people or groups in South Africa that would dispute the need for nation formation and social cohesion; it is more about the different starting points and vantage positions that give us headaches.
This report navigates these issues with great skill and depth, and one hopes that the report will generate debates and conversations that would take us forward in a purposeful and deliberate manner. In particular, it must contribute towards the taking of measures that change what people see, hear, feel and perceive in their everyday living, for it is not only what is in a policy, in a paper, in a book on the shelf that determines these issues, but what the people, in their daily lives, feel. Those among us who understand what is in a policy, in a document or a book, like this report, and have the power, must act in such a way that others in society can see and feel differently. When all is said and done, it is the citizens of South Africa, as a whole, who will determine whether we do form a nation or not; whether we are cohesive or not, and whether that happy situation will endure or not.
But what do we see in South Africa as we just go about the business of living our daily lives? We see townships, informal settlements and villages in which only black people live; we see suburbs in which white people and blacks with money stay. Do these different “peoples” feel they belong together? Is there any sense of solidarity among them? Do we expect any form of social cohesion among them? Don’t these different “peoples” see themselves as us and them? What is more, are we not negating the interests of social cohesion by continuing with the racial human settlements spatial patterns of the past? As we sit here today, can we see in the near future, racially desegregated townships and villages? The laws enforcing such segregation are long gone, but do we have any inkling that the segregation would ever disappear?
We see black people in taxis, buses and trains; we see whites mainly in cars as a mode of their transport. But of course there are also some blacks in cars, but the point is that the taxi, the bus and the train are more associated with black transportation. We see mainly white people at airports and in the airplanes. In fact, on flights and at airports in South Africa, just as is the case in some elite shopping malls, you might think that whites are the majority in the population of South Africa.
We see at sporting events such as soccer, rugby, cricket and others, as well as the composition of the teams at club, provincial and national levels, the resemblance of the same patterns. There are oddities here and there which we could wish were rather the norm.
We see mostly blacks at the observance of national days, with the few whites being those that are strongly affiliated to political parties. The most recent of these was Women’s Day on Saturday last week where the pattern was exactly as expected. One would have thought that the issues attending Women’s Day touch the lives of all women equally.
This report suggests that perhaps the manner, style and form that the observance of national days take, might need to be relooked. That’s indeed a worthwhile suggestion, considering the potential of national days to contribute towards nation formation and social cohesion.
It appears in the last twenty years of democracy, we have failed to use the educational infrastructure and school children to promote social cohesion, and particularly the utilization of school children in this regard. If the form of observance was relooked, depolarized in such a manner that most are comfortable; i.e. not in the form of rallies at stadia addressed by political parties, then we might have made some progress in this regard.
Twenty years of interaction by school children in an integrated fashion could not only have oriented a lot of children and young adults, but through them we could have touched a lot of adults as well.
If that was to be coupled with the now mooted intention to have all school children learning an African language, we would enhance mutual interaction and understanding among the heirs of our future and improve chances of a much more cohesive society. This is assuming that all other things are taken care of, such as the quality of public education to afford all our children a fair shot at a meaningful future.
We see black people, as workers or as communities toyi-toying and burning or destroying things every day, which suggest that there is no sense of ownership of the country and its assets. We frequently hear them denouncing white monopoly capital as their enemy and the architect of their problems. The protests are such a common occurrence that they have become a common feature of our news bulletins.
One of the fundamental factors responsible for what we see and hear, is the deep and glaring economic inequalities, which, to make matters worse, take racial lines and bring into memory, the oppression of the past. Apart from a few blacks who have seen their economic fortunes rise in the democratic era, we have not, as a country, done too well in this regard. The stubborn levels of poverty are worrying. The report engages with this aspect of our lives quite seriously.

Despite the unsatisfactory picture that produces what we see and hear, there is an unmistakable aspiration on our part, at different levels, to move towards better social cohesion. The state has produced several policy positions in this regard and introduced some programmes. In their eagerness to foster a sense of unity and togetherness, some in our midst have even promoted the notion of us being a rainbow nation, unfortunate as such a characterization might be. Apart from the rainbow being ephemeral and transient, its colours never merge. Does that suggest that we will remain separate colours for eternity?
There is no doubt that the state, as one of the most powerful forces in our lives, should take the lead in our endeavours to form a nation and foster social cohesion. This report can make a contribution in that regard, first at the level of debates, and then at the level of pointing the way on what needs to be done. That means that ways must be found to insert in our national discourse at state level, at universities and other such suitable forums, the contents of this report.
But for the state to provide this leadership, it must have the respect of the citizens. The situation where elements of the state are seen to be corrupt or imploding, as is the case with NPA presently, does not help.

Mosibudi Mangena
14/08/2014

26/04/2014

Mosibudi Mangena

We are just about to hold democratic national and provincial elections that will put in place the fifth parliament of the Republic of South Africa. There might be some blemishes, such as intimidation, killings for votes, biased coverage by the public broadcaster and allegations of vote rigging.

There might also be some complaints about the unsavoury role of money in South African electoral politics. But, by all indications, the elections would most probably be declared free and fair and a true expression of the will of the citizens of the republic.

That is an achievement some countries elsewhere in the world can only dream of. Considering our ugly past, especially the brutal racist dictatorship that we vanquished, we have reason to be proud of our achievements.

We have been able to build and maintain a stable political environment for twenty years. As other countries elsewhere in the world grappled with political and civil strife, we became a beacon of hope. We were even able to offer advice and assistance to sister countries on our continent who found themselves in turbulent waters. It looked and felt like we were on course to build a future filled with hope.

Even those of us in AZAPO who strongly believed that the Kempton Park political settlement was fundamentally flawed, harboured some hope that as long as stability, the rule of law, free media and other elements that contribute towards democracy remain in place, there was a chance that we could, in time, remedy the imperfections inherent in that political settlement.

But alas, many of us are now experiencing a sinking feeling; that the dreams of building a bright future for our children might be fading and that we might in fact be descending towards a failed state.

At the heart of this sinking feeling is the growth of rampant and shameless corruption in public life, starting right at the top of state leadership. We see crass materialism thumping everything else; the will to serve the citizens seems to have given way to the desire to loot shamelessly. Ethical leadership is deserting the scene, allowing a frenzied feeding spectacle to unfold before our eyes.

The Nkandla scandal and the Marikana massacre are the lowest points yet in our apparent descend to what some have called a predator state. Who could have imagined a democratic government under a former liberation movement mowing down striking workers with automatic weapons?

Could anyone have thought we would see the day when an entire government would, with a straight face, try to justify expenditure in excess R240 million of public money at the home of one person, clearly in pursuit of grotesque opulence?

The Auditor-General routinely reports financial mismanagement and fraud in many state institutions which do not attract any consequences for those involved. In the previous financial year the A-G reported a misspending of R30 billion across the three spheres of government, and yet no one was arrested or disciplined in any way.

There is no clearer invitation than that for fraudsters to continue with their looting of public resources. No wonder communities are fed up and take to the streets everyday to voice their plight.

The Public Protector is inundated with requests from citizens to investigate all sorts of abuses in the public sector. This huge volume of work for the Public Protector gives an indication of the amount of rot in public affairs in South Africa.

But instead of support and encouragement, the ruling party and its government often attack Thuli Madonsela for doing her work diligently.

AZAPO observed that the 1994 political agreement was big on rights for all citizens but glaringly defective on economic justice. It was clear that issues relating to land restoration and economic ownership were left untouched.

This meant that the deliberate and systematic impoverishment of the majority black population by settler-colonialism and apartheid would not be redressed. Under the circumstances, the black majority would be voting for their own poverty and landlessness.
This is in fact what has been happening in the past twenty years of democracy.

It is in fact worse. South Africa has become the most unequal society in the world under our much vaunted democratic dispensation. The protests we see on a daily basis as well as the putting of fifteen million of our compatriots on social grants attest to the deteriorating levels of poverty in South Africa.

Some of us had felt that as long as ethical, moral and honest governance existed, there was a chance that these serious shortcomings could be remedied through the machinery of the state. For that to happen, you need a leadership that truly wants to serve the needs of its people.

It is even more difficult to mobilize the population for development in the face of rampant corruption on the part of the leadership. Rightly, people get cynical when the leadership pretend to oppose corruption but are blatantly involved in acts of corruption – talk left but walk right.

The failed state might be our destination if we do not slam the brakes on corruption.

21/04/2014

*POSTPONEMENT OF THE MIRIAM TLALI READING & BOOK CLUB APRIL SESSION *

*Due to A Bereavement in One of This Book Editors' Families, We Regret To*BOOK DISCUSSION:*

*Which was scheduled for*

Date: Saturday, 19 April 2014
Time: 14H00 - 16H30
Venue: Museum Africa, Newtown Cultural Precinct, 121 Bree Street, Newtown
Discussants: Sahm Venter and Swati Dlamini

*Has been postponed to the 23rd August 2014 at the same time, same venue and same discussants.*

*The book is available @ R215.00 at our office and at the Club (only cash sale)*

*THE MIRIAM TLALI READING & BOOK CLUB*INVITES YOU TO Swati Dlamini & Sahm Venter as they discuss 491 Days Prisoner Numbe...
16/04/2014

*THE MIRIAM TLALI READING & BOOK CLUB*

INVITES YOU TO Swati Dlamini & Sahm Venter as they discuss 491 Days Prisoner Number 1323-69 Winnie Madikezela Mandela

Date: Saturday, 19 April 2014

Time: 14H00 - 16H30

Venue: Museum Africa, Newtown Cultural Precinct, 121 Bree Street, Newtown

*Discussants*
Sahm Venter and Swati Dlamini

*Facilitator* Leonardo Mulaja*
Sahm Venter and Swati Dlamini*

For enquiries and RSVP:

The wRite associates, 011 791 3585 or [email protected]

THE MIRIAM TLALI READING & BOOK CLUB INVITES YOU TO A CONVERSATION WITH DR WALLY MONGANE SEROTEDate: Saturday, 22nd Marc...
21/03/2014

THE MIRIAM TLALI READING & BOOK CLUB INVITES YOU TO A CONVERSATION WITH DR WALLY MONGANE SEROTE

Date: Saturday, 22nd March 2014
Time: 14H00 – 16H30
Venue: Museum Africa, Newtown Cultural Precinct, 121 Bree Street, Newtown
Book Discussion

Get a copy of the book at Exclusive Books or Xarra Books

Books will be available for sale at the event: Cash only.
Kiddies’ & teens’ programme will not be featured this month.

For enquiries and RSVP: The wRite associates, 011 791 3585 or [email protected]

Authors’ profile

Mongane Wally Serote

Born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg in 1944, Mongane Wally Serote was drawn to poetry and writing towards the end of his high school career following his connection to the 'Township' or 'Soweto Poets', a literary group involved in the development of Black Consciousness and who produced creative works which centred around themes of political activism, and featured images or revolt and resistance. He was arrested by the apartheid government in 1969 under the Terrorism Act, following which he spent 9 months in solitary confinement. He was later released without charge and went on to obtain a fine arts degree in New York at Columbia University in 1979. For a time he was unable to return to South Africa due to exile, and so he began living in Botswana and London, where he became involved with the Medu Arts Ensemble.

Serote held a variety of positions in the ANC, returning to South Africa in 1990, when he was appointed Head of the Department of Arts and Culture of the ANC in Johannesburg. He has also served as chair of the parliamentary select committee for arts and culture. Serote was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of KwaZulu-Natal and Transkei. Until recently he was a Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Portfolio Committee for Arts, Culture, Language, Science and Technology.

As founding former CEO of the Freedom Park Trust, he was instrumental in overseeing the construction of the Freedom Park Memorial in Pretoria. This visionary monument, built in a stark of beautiful spot, honours the contribution of those comrades who served the struggle for liberation with their lives.

His work include Yakhal’inkomo, To Every Birth Its Blood, Gods of Our Time, Third World Express, History Is the Home Address, Revelations and, Rumours.
He has received many awards, including the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, Pablo Neruda Award from the Chilean government and the Lifetime Achievement Literary Award category of the South African Literary Awards.

Public Invitation honouring the Life and Legacy of Prof. Mbulelo Mzamane
22/02/2014

Public Invitation honouring the Life and Legacy of Prof. Mbulelo Mzamane

22/02/2014

WE ARE A PETRIFIED NATION

By

Mosibudi Mangena

The shenanigans at the SABC, while not completely surprising, emphasize once more how much our society is being overtaken by fear. We fought against fear as an overpowering element in South African politics while still students in the South African Students’ Organisation, SASO, in the sixties and seventies.

We recognized fear as a factor that militated against the majority black population fighting effectively for their freedom. We thought we had made headway, as the June 1976 uprising and subsequent events testify.

Imbued with the philosophy of Black Consciousness, as many of those young people were, they confronted the oppressive system and its forces without fear. Almost all in the leadership of the uprising were affiliated to the South African Students’ Movement, SASM.

But alas, under the democracy we fought so hard for, we are regressing into the paralyzing sickness of fear. Under its debilitating force, we watch ourselves sliding, almost inexorably, into the quagmire of corruption, maladministration and looting, which might rob us of the enjoyment of our democracy.

The tragicomedy at the SABC is just as surreal as it is depressing. Why should it require the public protector to uncover all those funny things when there is a governing body to look after the affairs of the corporation?

Hlaudi Motsoeneng was irregularly appointed Acting Chief Operations Officer of the SABC; he has neither a matriculation certificate nor any other qualification for this important position; he fired employees that crossed his path; he got a salary increase twice in one year, from R1.4 million to R2.4 million a year; he irregularly increased the salaries of some employees, ballooning the SABC salary bill by a whooping R29 million.

All these things happened under the watch of several successive boards of the SABC. Where were they looking? Were they all sleeping on the job and therefore unable to perform their fiduciary responsibilities?

One glance at the successive boards of the public broadcaster reveals a mighty concentration of brain cells, experience and varied skills, which leave you with no doubt that they are eminently qualified to provide this important body with the corporate governance it deserves. They perfectly understood the law, corporate governance and ethics.

Motsoeneng’s malpractices were blatant and brazen. How come the boards did not take action? Could it be that all these groups of high calibre people could not pick up these shenanigans? Or did they know that wrong things were taking place but kept quiet? If so, why?

What gave Motsoeneng so much power that he could ride roughshod over the boards and basically everybody else? Does that perhaps explain the frequent resignations of board members? Did he perhaps represent some powerful forces that made him almost untouchable? If that is the case, what are these forces?

Taking everything into account, it is inescapable to conclude that the boards knew that the Motsoeneng bullying was wrong, but were too petrified to do anything about it. It would be far worse if they were to say they saw nothing wrong. That would mean that the trust that parliament and many of us had in them and their competences was misplaced.

The oppressive regime sustained its fear over us through brutal force that included arrests, shootings, beatings, torture, imprisonment and even death. We do not have that kind of thing presently, except the shootings during demonstrations as experienced in Ficksburg, Marikana and Mothutlung.

Fear is now induced through more sophisticated and insidious methods. People now whisper about their political, social and economic activities being smothered. They talk about being marked and their social and economic mobility being blocked if they do not kowtow to the wishes of certain forces. It feels almost unreal to watch some very confident and good people being reduced to whispering about their plight.

There are many compatriots who know what the right thing is, but do the wrong things because they are fearful of offending certain forces. They then keep quiet or whisper about the goings on. These compatriots are to be found in municipalities, parastatals and elsewhere. The SABC is not alone in this mess. It is just that they are high profile and in the public eye.

The public protector is being unnecessarily overworked because men and women who are in positions of responsibility would simply not do the right thing. There was no need for Thuli Madonsela to probe the SABC. The public broadcaster has a board of competent people who simply needed to exercise their responsibilities without fear, and the Hlaudi Motsoeneng bizarre phenomenon would not occur.

What was the point of fighting for freedom if we are going to live in fear in our own country? For the sake of our country and posterity, we should banish fear from our psyche and public life. We should not allow it to become a permanent feature of our public life.

19/02/2014

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