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There is a South African song by Letta Mbulu title Amakhamandela. A song released in 1996, it appears that it conveys a narrative that was set in a time were South Africans had started to notice what it really meant to be part of the “New South Africa. The song speaks about breaking the chains ( qhawul’ Amakamandela) and it speaks to how the country’s transition from the apartheid into democracy in 1994. ” was just the first step to a long journey of decolonising, healing and rehabilitation. It has been over 20 years and the lyrics to the song are so relevant to our time in an era where the political party that lead the struggle movement cannot be trusted even by its followers which is a big sign of failure in leadership. “ Not Yet Uhuru” she sings in the chorus, reminding the nation that they should get up and unchain themselves from the systemic challenges that we as South Africans have adopted through the years of struggle and the fight for political freedom.
In the first verse she is talking about how now that we stand together, (yes we do stand together when we are doing anything but stand for our dignity and our rights because “being too black can cost you your career”). She goes on to say even though we stand together we still see no difference in our country so let us break these mental chains. We have seen how in this country the transition in 1994 and the adoption of the new and first democratic constitution in 1996 was arguably an opportunity to just resolve the instability that was going on in the country and that ever since not much has been implemented by the new government to uphold the rights of the indigenous people of this country. Instead the new leadership just continued where the old government left off as if they were a company that changed CEOs and not policy. To support this statement she speaks about the voiceless people who vote but still live in shacks the majority is living in the same places they were forcefully driven into by the apartheid government till the point where they become so patriotic about these camps and call them Kasi’s and Loxion, nothing has been done about the mental conditioning people suffer from in this country.
On the second verse Mbulu goes on to say, “ There are some of us, who think we are free. But the majority says, NOT YET UHURU!”. This is so evident in our current South Africa. The mental condition of the South African people is divided still along racial lines even when we celebrate the “day of reconciliation” 16 December while on the same day the Afrikaans community ironically celebrate Dingaan’s day). Most of the white community still have a sense of superiority towards black people. On the other hand there has been a division among black in terms of respect for one another and now you see black on black hate based on socioeconomic status. You find the “english speaking blacks” or middle class back people feeling superior towards those who come from underprivileged backgrounds, the middle class citizens of this country are so loyal to white supremacy that they even look down on the poor who are fighting for free education, who have only one way of raising awareness which is through protest and marching, calling them “idiots” and “monkeys”. These are people who match Fanon’s description in “Black skin White Mask”. This is sad as it is evident that the majority of the country’s people have adopted neo colonial identities and proving to be very destructive towards one another and also proving that the “rainbow nation” is just a dream and a not so pleasant one.
In the final verse of the song Ms Mbulu phrases a bantu proverb that says “ ilifa lezithuta lidliwa ngaba hlakaniphileyo” this proverb means “The inheritance of the naive will be enjoyed by the wise”. As we see evidently across the continent, all the other nations are devouring african resources, all the other nations have benefited from the milking and raping of Africa. And while all of this is happening, no African leader exists now who is ready to lead the African Renaissance without being apologetic about taking back the strings, the land and doing an Africa for Africans government, because most of our leaders are cowards. Anyways, this song raised a brow for me this week and I thought I should write about this. Qhawul’amakhamandela! Yes nobody owes us anything, and Biko told us we are own our own so let us try to free ourselves from the mental clutches that the past has rubbed into our minds.
HERE IS THE LINK TO THE SONG:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Js95topeKI