I think it's time we had a chat. I am not rich or famous. I am just... me. I am a citizen of The Republic Of South Africa. The interesting thing is I think that is the makeup of most of us, yes?
We are mostly just us, South Africans. But the thing we don't seem to realize is that that alone is an achievement of note.
Think of how many countries in Africa are not like South Africa... Think of how many countries have gone through the crucible we have and have come out like us. None. Not one.
Congo? Rwanda? Zimbabwe? Any takers... Egypt? No? None.
People seem to forget that none of our current generation is responsible for any of the crap that came before. Similarly we seem to forget that no-one chose to be dark skinned or light skinned or rich or poor. Why do we Africans always seem to be self sabotaging ourselves? Why do we seem to always fall into the revenge cycle? We feel that someone has to pay. But we don't realize that the people that have to pay are either dead, old, or an entirely different nation.
Now lest we forget, we black people are not the first, nor only people to be oppressed. Let that sink in. Sure we have it rough, after all, we were conquered, but we are only the victims of the British Empire.
What about the victims of the Roman Empire? The Ottoman Empire? Gupta Empire? Spanish? Russian? French? Macedonian? Khazar... Let's be honest, there have always been people oppressing other people and yet the oppressed always find a way to liberate themselves.
From what I have read in history, the new empires that have arisen have always done so by assimilating the previous empire. Because trying to wipe them out normally leads to endless war!
Which has made me realize that the reason South Africa is the beacon of hope in Africa and in fact, the beacon of hope for the world; is that we are a multicultural nation.
South Africans aren't Black. We aren't White. We aren't Coloured. Or Indian. Or Asian. We are actually all of the above. We are South Africans. An assimilated nation of diverse people & cultures.
And don't get it twisted, we all have a right to be here. Sure the "boere" (excuse the term) came from the Dutch nation. But do you know that us "blacks" came from upper Africa? If we are honest, the Khoi and the San should run this place. Same as the Native Americans should run the US, the Aborigines should run Australia and the Palestinians should run their region. But unfortunately, that is not the way the world works.
History shows that there is no such thing as justice for the conquered. Not because their shouldn't be but because of the nature of civilisation. It is the responsibility of every nation to strengthen itself and to choose leaders that can keep them safe and repel those that wish to conquer them.
So when the guys that lead the revolutions become the new oppressors & "take power" in the name of the people... maybe it's time we stopped looking for someone "of our colour" to take revenge for "us" so we can open our eyes and see the characters of the people who represent us.
Maybe it's time to accept that we are all South African and we are all human. We need to gravitate towards those who would stand for Mzansi like Nelson Mandela did. Like Thabo Mbeki did. Like even Kgalema Motlanthe did.
I just don't see how we can hope to accomplish anything by dividing our nation. We need to strengthen it & build a culture of patriotism. That that is the most important thing.
So, South Africa... in 2017, can we stand together? Please? We have to. We have to fight for #FreeEducation. We have to protect ourselves from the global threats rising around us. We have to destroy the State Capture rings.
Let's start with Zuma and work our way up. We won't be able to deal with those who benefited from our blood if we don't have a strong leadership anyway, so we can't start with "White Monopoly Capital" (it's not just White, that's another lie).
There are imbalances in RSA, but that is the state of the world. What we forget is that we are the one nation in the world that seems to know how to deal with our imbalances. So I'm sure it will work itself out once we get proper leadership (because we will hold them accountable), but we need to hold together until we can do that. We need to hold together while we do that and we need to hold together after we do that.
History will judge us on how we act. Will this be the period noted as "The Fall Of The Republic Of South Africa" or "The Rise Of The Southern African Empire"?
The latter is possible... We could assimilate Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia et al. We could build a Nation that would rival the superpowers. But that nation will not come to fruition if we are busy arguing about skin tone.
So, South Africa... in 2017, can we stand together? Please? We have to.
#RiseUpRSA