By: Gillian Schutte*
In a moment that surely epitomises what is meant by the post-truth age, Tourism Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu is being hauled before the ANC’s Integrity Committee for none other than speaking her truth, a truth that resounds with millions of Black South Africans.
Oxford Dictionaries defines the term “post-truth” as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” In short, people can believe whatever they want to believe as long as they feel it is right.
The thing is that even the post truth era is colonised by white corporate sensibilities. Black voices that centre social justice and race within their critiques of the political and social arenas, remain marginalised, often scoffed at, and are most often written off as unworthy of respectful engagement in the public arena. This is very clear in the South African Media, most of which continues to serve white interests long after a so-called liberation.
It also, vehemently, continues to subvert Black reality when expressed in the framework of Black consciousness or socialism. Thus the post-truth era demands more of Black opinion makers in the ongoing necessity to spotlight Black concerns and undo the colonial mythologies about Blackness that continue unabated in this era.
In this post-truth age, there is no longer any clear-cut political ideology other than that which serves business interests. As a result Black and Left voices that contest the dominant narrative are suffocated beneath the liberal dominant discourse that saturates white-owned press. What has replaced engagement is the ‘politics of agendas’ and the media seeks to whip up hyper-moralism, indignation and cancel culture when reporting on its adversaries. Its adversaries are those who spotlight the Black condition and who call for a radical transformation that centres Black needs.
The 21st Century media and social media in South Africa is a veritable carnival of endless masquerading. In this playground the social engineering manufactured from the corporate sector is facilitated and pushed by its media. Together they strongly suggests which ride is going to offer the most exhilaration and reward in the moment. It just has to ‘feel right.’
Sisulu’s article pointing to Black members of its judiciary as colonised and boldly stating that the constitution does not serve the interests of the poor, clearly, did not feel right. Why? Because it threatened the corporate sector and its comfortability with their choice of President , the Oligarch-serving Cyril Ramaphosa, as many have named him.
The gloves came off and the ‘captured’ press reigned down blows upon its purveyor – hoping to knock her out in the first round. It made damned sure to manufacture public consent that Sisulu’s was an irrational stance that, it would seem, threatened the public’s safety and security. In a veritable Public Relations splurge that faintly echoed Bell Pottinger’s so-called narrative influencing campaign, they fought dirty to retain the dominant narrative. Their blatant bias certainly suggests that they are most likely in collusion with the Ramaphosa camp and its Oligarchical backers. Many of its opinion makers were given ample space to virtually assault Sisulu from their platforms and call her missive an electoral ploy. She has been marked as the possible presidential candidate for the RET ‘faction’ and this they will not tolerate.
Besides being castigated by the white-owned media in a show of vindictiveness, Sisulu faced the ire of the ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa and was summoned to a meeting with him to discuss the contents of her piece. After this meeting the president’s office released the following statement the press. “Minister Sisulu conceded that her words were inappropriate and retracts this statement and affirms her support for the judiciary.” She is quoted as having said, “I accept that my column has levelled against the judiciary and African judges, in particular, unsubstantiated, gratuitous, and deeply hurtful comments.”
The following day Sisulu released her own statement which read: “I wish to categorically disown this statement in its entirety as a misrepresentation of the said meeting I had with the president. The president and I met on Wednesday at 21:00 at his house. In such a meeting, he shared his challenge with one aspect of the article on the judges. The president proposed an intermediary that would focus on the one line about the judges to resolve that. I awaited such to be communicated, which would do nothing to the entire article. Under no circumstances did I commit to any retraction or apology since I stand by what I penned. The content of the president’s statement in its current form is unfortunate as it is not what we agreed on. In this regard, I wish to distance myself from such.”
Soon after her bold statement was released the African National Congress’s national executive committee (NEC) rang with demands that Sisulu to be brought before the ANC’s integrity commission to answer for her act of defiance against President. However, not all NEC members supported this measure.
In the article on Polity, 21 Jan 2022, ‘She can’t get away with it’ – ANC NEC hears calls for Sisulu to face integrity commission it reads, “…as calls were being made for Sisulu to appear before the party’s integrity commission, NEC member Tony Yengeni came to Sisulu’s defence and made a counter call for ANC Limpopo chairperson Stanley Mathabatha to also face the music for jumping the gun and endorsing Ramaphosa for a second term earlier this month during the party’s anniversary celebrations in Limpopo despite the party not allowing for the opening of nominations.
It must be added that there are others who have escaped being called to the Integrity Commission for far worse. One such example is Oscar Mabuyane, who is ANC Chairperson of the Eastern Cape, and has also called for Ramaphosa’s second term. He himself is implicated in alleged corruption, along with Public Works MEC Babalo Madikizela in connection with funds that were meant for the memorial service of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
The story written by Cebelihle Bhengu
in the Daily Despatch reports: “…in May 2019, Buffalo City municipality resident Xolile Mashukuca laid a complaint with the office of the public protector, alleging that amounts of R2m and R1m were misappropriated by officials in the provincial government and in the Mbizana local municipality. Later Mabuyane found himself under fire after Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane made damning findings in her report, that he irregularly benefited from a R1.1 million tender for the memorial service of Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Mkhwebane ordered the Hawks to investigate allegations that Mabuyane received up to R450 000 in relation to the tender.”
This matter was soon all but forgotten by the media until raised again in an IOL article by Mashudu Sadike and Chevon Booysen published on January 14 2022 – in which they write: “Political interference is suspected to be the reason behind why the probe into alleged corruption against Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane is dragging on, according to a legal expert.” Some suggest he is being protected by “certain people” within the ANC.
And then there is the President himself and the matter of the leaked voice recording, allegedly made at an NEC meeting where he is heard telling a Comrade Tony: “Investigations will reveal that a lot of money, of public money was used, and I said in this case, I am prepared to fall on the sword. So that the CR17 campaign yes, should be the only one that’s looked at and not the others because the image of the ANC is what I am most concerned about. Each one of us knows that quite a bit of the money that is used in campaigns, in bussing people around, in doing all manner of things is often from state resources and public resources…and we cannot kid ourselves around that.”
In this first segment it appears that the President of South Africa is not only putting the ANC before the country but is also, some have suggested, is giving thinly veiled orders and instructions from above to cover up the use of public funds by “certain campaigns.”
How is it in any way acceptable that the overall head of state seems prepared to cover up corruption that he clearly states that they all know about, himself included. This statement alone should be enough ‘evidence’ to force all journalists to question his credibility vociferously. More shocking is that this comes from someone in his position? Instead the focus is on how he is likely to survive this RET attack on his credibility.
The question is why Mervyn Dirks, the MP who was recently suspended for taking the recording to the standing committee on public accounts, SCOPA, and Busisiwe Mkhwebane have not made a similar call for them and others, to appear before the integrity commission. Rather they have taken their findings to independent organisations such as The Hawks and SCOPA. I’ve heard it said that they are aware that the Integrity Commission favours the Ramaphosa camp and it would be a waste of their time.
We can only wait to see what the outcome of Sisulu’s case will be since she has been perceived as aligning herself with the RET faction and may well be tripped to fall on her own sword for that.
No matter what the critics say of Lindiwe Sisulu’s recent missive to the South African judiciary and its constitution, what she did on a level beyond politics was to courageously confront the White certainty that underpins the very fabric of South African life including, the business, media, education and legal system, by opening up the question of colonialism and its ongoing negation of the Black majority. Her missive challenged society to engage with this zone of non-beingness to which they have banished Blackness and signalled that there may be a chance to undo this systemic erasure of the oppressed. What scares the hegemony the most is that her article resonated with many Black South Africans and spoke to the truth that the nothingness of Black skin is only in the eye of the White beholder, not in the souls of the Black subject, as pointed out by West Indian psychoanalyst and social philosopher, Frantz Fanon.
It is for this reason that the call for her to be the next President of South Africa is gaining momentum.
*Gillian Schutte is a feminist, activist, social commentator, filmmaker and writer. Her work is widely published in local and international journals and newspapers. She is a published poet, author and columnist.
