A (very) brief History of South Africa, by Lance de Ruig

Having just celebrated another Heritage day I thought it would be a nice idea to do a (very) brief summary of our history. It is a little bit tongue in cheek and by no means is it comprehensive. Please bear with the length, it is hard telling the history of a country in 300 words. Also, in my (very) brief history I have intentionally excluded post 1948 due to the fact that many South Africans have no idea that we actually have a Heritage pre-1948. We focus so much on the atrocities of the last 50 years that we neglect the formative years of this great country. So, here goes:

Very little is known of South Africa pre-colonialism as most African tribes had no written language and as such we mostly rely on archaeological evidence. What we do know is that between 3000 BC and 1000 BC peoples from Ethiopia and Somalia migrated to Southern Africa. Also, In 400 AD many Bantu speaking tribes from Central Africa made their way to our shores and began disposing many of the existing tribes (those would be the San, Khoi, Zulu and Xhosa).

In the late 1400s we know that the Portuguese, through Bartholomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama, made their way around the tip of Africa and made stops along the Southern African coast. They butchered and bruised, but also fell in love with the country and the people (well, the topless women actually) and many settled and made new lives in Southern Africa.

While there were some ‘whites’ in Africa, the real trouble started in1652 when our friend (well, maybe not yours) Jan van Riebeeck founded a Dutch settlement called the Cape Colony. Thousands upon thousands of Europeans, mostly Dutch, made their way to our fine climes and started a new life at the tip of Africa.

As the Dutch poured in and built with their blood, sweat, guns and tears, an upstart French invader named Napoleon was ravaging their ‘home’ country. In order to protect the strategically placed Cape Colony from the dirty French, the British occupied the colony at the Cape. Needless to say, the British soon realised that sun was good for their sickly skins and so they flocked in their hordes to the sunny skies of Africa.

It would be amiss not to mention that while the pasty poms were invading, Shaka was building his empire. Between 1816 and 1826 the Zulu nation struck fear and loathing in the hearts of black and white hides alike. Dispossessing, murdering and conquering at will, it seems as if the only real match for Shaka was betrayal.

Meanwhile, back at the colony, the Dutch (or Boers as they would be called, meaning farmer) could not handle the rule of the Brits and so left the Cape en-masse to find some living space. Having fought disease, famine, drought and warring tribes the Boers found a place to call home and created the ZAR (modern day Transvaal) in 1856.

All was at peace (well, sort of) until that pesky yellow metal called Gold was discovered in Johannesburg in 1886 (turns out that 70% of the world's gold has come from this tiny Republic) and true to form, the Brits (yes, them again) wanted their piece of the pie.

In 1899 the crown invaded the independent Boer republics and a long and bitter war was fought with thousands of Boer and black women and children being starved to death in the world's first concentration camps (yes, it was the Brits, not the Germans). Eventually the broken and beaten Boers would sign peace in 1902.

What followed was a brilliant piece of nation-creation (well, if you were white) and in 1910 the Union of South Africa was created, joining the Boer Republics and the British Colonies, creating modern day South Africa (Yes, we were 100 years old last year and no one knew). The problem was deciding what to do with the black people in this new nation, the solution was the 1913 Land Act, forbidding black people from owning land outside of a predetermined (and tiny) chunk of land know as the 'Home Lands'.

The Brits had a merry time running their new creation until 1948, when the Afrikaans, through the National Party, won the election and did all sorts of horrendous things to hang on to power. And the rest, as they say in the classics, is history.

A (very) brief history of our country points to one amazing point: being African does not mean Zulu, or Xhosa, or even Afrikaans; what African means is Somalia, Ethiopia, Britain, Congo, Netherlands, Portugal, France, Sotho, and so many more. As we celebrate Heritage days in the years to come may we remember where we come from, and embrace where we want to go, together!



The rest, as they say, is history

How to kill democracy in 3 easy steps

Step one: Trample the independence of Parliament
Last year a number of dodgy lease deals were signed by government. The Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, looked into these and found them to be corrupt and she urged President Zuma to take action. Her report gave President Zuma until Monday 12 September to announce what he would do with the two ministers concerned (Bheki Cele and Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinda). President Zuma has blatantly ignored the deadline and has shown contempt for the legal processes of our country. On Wednesday this week Members of Parliament tried to hold President Zuma to account for this lack of action and instead of rigorous debate, the speaker of Parliament ANC member Max Sisulu, protected the President and denied Parliament the opportunity to question the man who is supposed to be leading our country. This shocking show of party politics has no place in Parliament

Step two: Question the integrity of the Judicial system
A number of months ago Julius Malema sang a song at a rally called "awudubule ibhunu" (Shoot the Boer). Many individuals and organisations were concerned that this was hate speech and duly took Mr Malema to court. The ANC threw their weight behind Malema. This week the ANC lost and the song has rightly been called hate speech. Rather than accepting an independent legal process the ANC has come out and shamelessly challenged the courts. If we cannot respect rule of law we cannot call ourselves a democracy.

Step three: Crush the freedom of the media
For any democracy to thrive the media need to be free to challenge and question the party in power. This serves to strengthen and reinforce the freedom of speech and the culture of transparency. In the last year the ANC has introduced proposed legislation, which would greatly restrict media freedom. This legislation allows for the classification of any information the government deems fit, coupled with jail time for any journalist who should publish this classified information regardless of public interest. By crushing the media's freedom the ANC is crushing our democracy

Having read the above statements, you tell me if you feel that our government is committed to democracy or not.