This article is written in Honor and Gratitude to Brother Julius Malema of South Africa and Brother Ibrahim Traor’e of Burkina Faso. Let me begin:
South Africa’ ‘s Failure number ONE was the new democratic constitution that came out of the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) negotiations. It was the worst possible outcome for South Africa’s Aboriginal people. The TRC was supposedly the beginning of prosperity for the South African Aboriginal people. However, after the end of the brutal, legalized racial segregation called apartheid, the TRC did not deliver.
The South Africa Apartheid system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa, technically lasted 46 years; however, if you consider the period of Anglo Zulu War it was actually 115 years. Evening considering this fact, the TRC didn’t call for the redistribution of wealth, nor did it provide for reparations of any kind for the South African Aboriginal people. Land and resources stolen from South Africa’s Aboriginal people will remain stolen until returned! White Africana farmers still control an estimated 73% of commercial farmland today.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) had three committees: the Human Rights Violations Committee, the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee, and the Amnesty Committee. What kind of revolution leaves the wealth, natural resources, and quality land mainly in the hands of their former oppressors? South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission supported a pattern that provided corporate ownership concentration among a small number of private Caucasian firms. Hence, high levels of economic and social inequality continue to persist. I am certain that South Africia’s new leader, Brother Julius Malema and others, will address that problem soon.
A statement by South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu described living under apartheid this way: “Your dignity is not just rubbed in the dust. It is trodden underfoot and spat on. Our people are being killed as if they were but flies. Is that nothing to you who pass by?”
Fact: every South African Aboriginal should have been declared a victim/survivor by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) period.
The TRC presented a partial truth and failed to hold members of the brutal Caucasian minority Apartheid South African regime accountable for enforcing a system of violence, intimidation, humiliation, and death against the South African Aboriginals. There is no question about who the victim/survivors were and who the perpetrators are. Are we asking the South African Aboriginals to forgive and forget what happened to them?
“Twenty-one thousand people came forward, women and men, old and young, and told South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission about nearly 38,000 gross violations of human rights. Millions of victims remain un-named. Ninety percent of those who came forward were South African Aboriginals.” Again, when will the Caucasian minority Apartheid South African regime be held accountable to Aboriginal victim/survivors and their families?
The African National Congress (ANC)has been in political Power for 31 years. Under ANC rule, Caucasians continued to reap the rewards of their previous privilege under the new economic system. However, the ANC still draws compelling criticism for unrelenting poverty, inequality, viciousness, health crises, and depravity.
Facilities and educational systems for South African Aboriginals remain profoundly unequal. Again, when will transitional justice be realized, such as financial reparations, land and resources redistribution, and prosecutions of the perpetrators? When will South African Aboriginals victimized by the South Africa Apartheid regime and Caucasian citizens be made whole? I say, the time is now!
During the South African Apartheid occupation, total segregation and racial separation were not the main problems. The real issue for South African Aboriginals was that the minority whites had (have) complete control of the wealth-building apparatuses throughout the nation. They also possessed a destabilizing and disproportionate share of resources, including access to the best living areas, the best and most well-equipped schools, and the best and highest-paying jobs.
Even after the end of South Africa’s Apartheid system, the economic wealth-building systems in South Africa remain primarily in the hands of the South African Apartheid National Party and other Caucasian people. It is a fact that the ANC inherited a profoundly corrupt and inefficient state. However, a new generation of South African Aboriginals is actively questioning how adequately the legacies of apartheid have been dealt with when reforms of the economy, the judiciary, and the education system remain generally unchanged.
The question of accountability remains for members of the former brutal Caucasian minority South African Apartheid regime and its’ Caucasian citizens guilty of gross human rights violations during more than 115 years of inconceivable brutality and unimaginable trauma!
A large percentage of the South African Aboriginal population seems to be fighting for crumbs. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. realized that you must have economic Power alongside political Power. If you don’t have economic Power, you can’t access exercise economic freedom.
South Africa Needs An “Economic Revolution”
I congratulate South Africa for taking a firm stand to save the lives of innocent citizens in Gaza; however, I think it’s time for South Africa to revisit the actions and results of the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” and demand greater equity for South Africa’s Aboriginal People. South Africa needs an “Economic Revolution”. South Africa must nationalize its “Natural Resources” to ensure that ALL South Africans benefit from the natural resources given to them by the “The Most High”!
South African leaders are morally obligated to pay PREPARATIONS to South Africa’s Aboriginal People and redistribute the country’s WEALTH and Land so that all South Africans’ standard of living and quality of life is significantly enhanced. South African leaders must also demand “Fair Market Value” for their Natural Resources when dealing with (The World Bank & Internation Monetary Fund) and other foreign entities. South Africa’s “First-Rate Legal Team,” which fought the ICJ case, can also fight for “Fair Market Value” for its mineral wealth and provide prosperity, stability, equality, and equity for its Aboriginal people.
In the immediate future, South Africa must provide the South Africa’s Aboriginal People a Universal Basic Income (UBI).” It could provide a livable amount of money “on a need basic,” paid regularly to each citizen 18 and over. This pay level will be high enough to ensure a material existence and full participation in society. As we all know by now, the wealthiest man in the world came through the South Africa Apartheid system. He grew up as a privileged white boy with all the advantages that goes with it.
If you know anything about African history, you know that every African nation are rich in natural resources; however, African nations remain “POOR BY DESIGN”. Every African country must re-evaluate its relationship with the Industrial World. The exploitation of African nations’ Natural resources must come to an end NOW. Old contracts related to natural resources must be re-negotiated and brought up to 21st-century fair market values.
South Africa can start its new paradigm shift with the members of BRICS, namely Brazil, Russia, India, and China. It would be beneficial if WE contact One of South Africa’s favorite Sons, Mr. Trevor Noah, to do a documentary to inform the South African people and the world about the utter failure of the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission”.
We, members of Global African descendants’ communities are here for you. We are ready to Re-Seed and provide our skill sets when and where you need us. Please comment and share your thoughts about the content of this issue.