Kyriarchy and the Ever-Consuming Proverbial “Kraal of the Heart”? Casting a Bosadi Gaze on South Africa, Post-Independence

MADIPOANE MASENYA (NGWAN’A MPHAHLELE)

Abstract

The Northern Sotho proverb, lešaka la pelo, ga le tlale—literally, “the kraal of a (human) heart does not get full”—has the tenor that foregrounds the human tendency to be greedy and self-serving. In a nutshell, the more material goods one acquires, the more one would like to have. Taking my cue from the honoree, Dr. Mercy Amba Oduyoye, who taught us that African proverbs with androcentric undertones may be used to resist and challenge patriarchy (read: kyriarchy in the present text), this essay is an attempt to sketch a brief herstory of the situation of African-South African women in apartheid South Africa, and the role (albeit, relatively speaking, not always celebrated) which they played in the struggle against the policy of apartheid. Specifically, if one casts a bosadi (womanhood-redefined) gaze at women’s situation in the post-apartheid era (28 years later), an era that has been characterized by among other things, self-serving, greedy, and corrupt leaders, it becomes evident that these women, basically, continue to receive the short end of the stick. Yet the God who was proclaimed by black theologians and liberationist biblical scholars in apartheid South Africa, One that was proclaimed by the Circle of Concern African Women Theologians, including Oduyoye, takes sides with the oppressed. There is, accordingly, a call for justice-seeking leaders to dismantle kyriarchy by defeating the temptation to fill the ever-consuming proverbial kraal of the heart, thus humanizing South Africa again.

Introduction

In this piece that is written to celebrate one of the esteemed women scholars on the African continent, Dr. Mercy Amba Oduyoye, a scholar who has foregrounded the wisdom of African people by using folklore in some of her works, one who has taught us that African proverbs that tend to be death-dealing, especially if read through the lens of African women’s experiences, need to be deconstructed and problematized, I found it fitting to engage my present social location, that is the post-apartheid South African context, using one of the African-South African proverbs as a hermeneutical lens.

The Northern Sotho/Pedi word lešaka (kraal) is more often than not linked to/associated with cattle. In the African culture, having cattle used to be (and still is) one significant measure of one’s wealth or possessions. Does it then occasion any wonder that a bigger kraal could also determine whether a man would be polygynous or not? Also, more girls born to a family meant a bigger kraal when more cattle were given in exchange of their hand in marriage. This was the case despite their marginalization because of their gender even right from birth. From the preceding lines, it seems clear that humans had, and still have, a tendency to want to have more, that is to expand their kraals, sometimes even at all costs including trampling on others. Hence, the expression, lešaka la pelo ga le tlale, literally, “the kraal of a heart never gets full.” The notion of greed is embedded in the tenor of the preceding proverb. Worthy of note though, is the fact that irrespective of the value attached to animals (read: cattle) in this proverb, another saying seems to counter the preceding notion as it says, feta kgomo o sware motho, literally, “leave a cow and catch a human being,” meaning human beings are of more value as compared to possessions.

Our foremothers and forefathers put the struggle of our people at the center of their lives, some even to the extent of sacrificing their lives. They seem to have understood the value and dignity associated with human beings. Thus, the thirst for power and possessions (read: wealth), appears to have been unknown to them. Argues Mosebudi Mangena, “They were not paid for their participation in the struggle. On the contrary, they faced hardship, possible arrest, torture, imprisonment and even death. Theirs was a belief in the cause of liberation.”^[1] As I reflect on the gains made so far in South Africa—politically and otherwise—motivated by my commitment to contribute to the well-being of these who have historically and still occupy the lowest rung on South Africa’s kyriarchal ladder, I attempt to challenge kyriarchy in present day South Africa, especially as it is experienced in the lives of many an African woman in the country. I will use the proverb on the ever-consuming “kraal of the heart” and related proverbs from the Hebrew Bible as hermeneutical lenses to cast a bosadi (womanhood-redefined) gaze on the post-apartheid South African landscape.

Introducing Mmago Monotela’s Narrative

Mmago Monotela’s story happens within a specific context. The social location identified in the preceding section can also be designated as the stage upon which her narrative unfolds. As already noted, given the historical marginalization of the members of the female folk, the bosadi (womanhood-redefined) gaze will be used as a hermeneutical lens through which the narrative will be told. However, before readers get a glimpse at her context, a brief word about the bosadi approach is in order.

Initially, after becoming attracted to women’s liberationist theologies through reading feminist resources, Madipoane Masenya (ngwan’a Mphahlele) underwent her first metaphorical surgery and came out carrying feminist horns.^[2] In her continued research on gender issues, she came to realize that African American women articulate their own experiences uniquely through their womanist framework. She noticed then that sooner rather than later, another surgical operation would be needed. Why? The African American women’s situation appeared to be closer to that of African-South African women in terms of addressing issues of class and race. Masenya (ngwan’a Mphahlele)’s surgical procedures were prompted by her desire to name herself in line with her insider status within an African context. While at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary as a visiting scholar, she became aware that despite the close points of resemblance between African American womanism and what might be an African-South African gender-sensitive biblical hermeneutical framework, womanism was still uniquely African American. Because of the latter discovery, and her commitment to make “Africa” a hermeneutical focus^[3] in her interaction with the biblical text, she decided to name her framework a bosadi (womanhood-redefined) approach to the reading of biblical texts. Within the latter framework, she has attempted to redefine what it means/ought to mean to be a woman within an African-South African context. Her last session of surgery enabled her to put on horns which would, in her view, for the first time hopefully stick,^[4] thus refusing the temptation to stay with artificial horns.

Although her primary hermeneutical focus is the experiences of African-South African women, the bosadi concept was developed not only with national and continental concerns in mind, but also in relation to global concerns. The word mosadi does not only occur in the Northern Sotho setting; it also occurs, though in different words, in other South African indigenous languages such as in the following examples: wansati (Xitsonga); umfazi (isiZulu); musadzi (Tshivenda); mosadi (Setswana and Sesotho).^[5] Masenya (ngwan’a Mphahlele) has deliberately made the African-South African women’s context the main hermeneutical focus by using a familiar word, a male-construct,^[6] in her desire, to first and foremost be committed to her own context, responding to questions asked first and foremost within her own context.^[7]

It can be argued that the major hermeneutical focus of the bosadi biblical hermeneutic is the unique experience of an African-South African woman with a view to her emancipation and empowerment. It is first and foremost, an African gender sensitive hermeneutic. African women, facing such multiple life-denying forces—such as sexism in the broader South African society which was exacerbated by the legacies of colonialism and apartheid; sexism in the African and broader South African culture; post-apartheid racism, classism, HIV and AIDS, and xenophobia, among others—are made the main hermeneutical foci.

What Now of Mmago Monotela’s Context?

In Mmago Monotela’s context the male has basically been the norm for understanding personhood since the beginning (read: pre-colonial Africa) and through the two eras marked by their foreignness to Africa that have left a permanent foreign mark on African-descended people on this part of the African continent; that is the colonial and the apartheid eras. Ngungi wa Thiongo cites as one example of this persistent Europhone memory, the naming of Africans by foreign names:

As a result, European names, like the iron brands of Sembene’s film, cling to the bodies of many African peoples, and whatever they achieve that ‘name’ is always around to claim its ownership of that achievement. A name given and accepted is a memory planted on the body of its grateful or unquestioning recipient. The body becomes a book, a parchment, where ownership and identity are forever inscribed.^[8]

The male, pretty much, remains the norm for understanding personhood even up to today, not only 23 years into a democracy, but thirty-two years after Mam Lydia Kombe’s convening of the first meeting of rural women^[9] in the Transvaal, and more than sixty years after the 1956 march of South African women to the Union Buildings! It could thus be safely concluded that when colonial and apartheid patriarchies saw a cow limping, tša re di e bona e hlotša, they let it climb the mountain anyway, tša e nametša thaba.^[10] In a nutshell, even in communal, family-oriented pre-colonial Africa, the male has been the norm; colonial and apartheid patriarchies thus only helped to exacerbate the situation of African women. Mercy Amba Oduyoye, the honoree, is thus on target in asserting that, “it is too easy to lay the blame solely at the feet of westernization. We know that in the African religio-cultural heritage is to be found the seeds of objectification and marginalization of women. Colonial policies simply helped the process along, and it succeeded to the extent that it was advantageous for African men.”^[11]

Through an employ of the bosadi approach, the following scenario is painted to support Oduyoye’s claim above. Right from the moment of her birth, a baby girl’s sex would determine her value in a patriarchal culture. In the Zulu culture, argues Krige,^[12] marriage is regarded as complete only after the birth of a child. The first child, especially a boy, is very important to this group. My Northern Sotho/Pedi culture is perhaps no exception as the naming of a new bride points in the same direction. My bridal name, MmaNape, was already alerting me that my firstborn child had to be Nape, a male person after whom the expected baby boy would be named! As noted in the abstract of this paper, in the African culture ownership of cattle used to be (and still is) one of the significant markers of a male’s possessions.

Hence a bigger kraal could also determine whether a man would be polygynous or not. Moreover, more girls born to a family meant a bigger kraal when more cattle were given in exchange for their hand in marriage. So, in these, supposedly, communal, family and botho-oriented^[13] settings, one’s gender determined not only the extent of one’s foreignness within predominantly male households, but also, one’s objectification as a part of male possessions. Indeed, the kraal of a heart never gets full. Female sexuality is possessed and thus contained by men, irrespective of their age.^[14] The following song lyrics come to mind:

ba mpha monyana ka rata, ba re mo tlogele ka gana; ba mpha mosadi ka gana, ba re mo tlogele ka rata (They offered me a young woman I liked it; they told me to leave her, I refused; they gave me a woman, I refused; they told me to leave her, I liked that).

We are thus not surprised that there are quite a few proverbs which reveal the “relaxed” sexual norms applicable to (married) men. These dangerous proverbs remain not only celebrated in the African male psyche; they were implemented then and continue to be implemented even today, also by members of the younger male generation. HIV and AIDS thus, regrettably, continue to claim younger lives, both male and female, and especially female ones. Monna ke thaka o naba;^[15] monna ke tšhwene o ja ka matsogo a mabedi,^[16] monna ke selepe, o lala a adimilwe^[17] and many other fatal sayings persist, which is regrettable, especially today, in the era when the sub-Saharan continent is ravaged by the pandemic of HIV and AIDS. Research has revealed that in Sub-Saharan Africa the HIV-infections within heterosexual marriage relationships are transmitted by male partners to unsuspecting spouses. Heterosexual marriage has thus been declared as one of the risky institutions in the context of HIV and AIDS. Even within this scenario, the members of the African female folk receive the short end of the stick also on account of the following factors: the nature of female physiology, the feminine face of poverty, low levels of female literacy, gender-based violence, as well as religious and cultural factors among others. The vocabulary of individual human rights, or rather women’s rights, as it now obtains in the South African constitution, seems to have been unknown then, and given the present lot of women today, dare one say, the vocabulary of women’s rights remains unknown even today. Could it be that these rights have always been known but were assimilated by the African communal mentality among others? What about today when South Africa is boasting about a wonderful constitution especially in terms of its affirmation of human rights?^[18] Is the community of the powerful—the community of those occupying the top rung of the kyriarchal ladder, the male, the white, and the rich, among others—albeit aware of these rights, ignoring them? Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s caution in this regard is noteworthy:

It is good and well for our constitution to extend human rights to all our people and to give them a voice in governance. But when there are still people waiting for decent housing 22 years into a democracy, and when votes are still bought with food parcels, it is no wonder people think democracy does not work.^[19]

Even as the exercise of botho appears to have been applied selectively, the notions of corporeality and family operated within a patriarchal setting, one in which the members of the female folk usually received the short end of the stick. Many more examples could be added to the preceding list; however, on account of space constraints, the preceding scenario should suffice to provide a glimpse of the setting of the African female folk in pre-colonial Africa, and even today to a great extent. Even more importantly for the present investigation, the brief survey will also, hopefully, give the reader a glimpse of why, despite the dawn of the democratic era twenty-eight years ago, these women remain at the bottom of the South African kyriarchal ladder. Pertinent questions must be asked. In light of the scenario painted in the preceding paragraphs, would it be precise to argue that African women were/are powerless, helpless and pitiable human beings without any influence in their own settings? Were/Are they the poorest of the poor just because they were women? May they have found themselves under the leadership of corrupt, detached, self-serving greedy leaders (read: dikgoši)? Could they have been/are they segregated within their own ethnic groupings just because they were/are Pedi women for example? Was/Is kyriarchy as a concept relevant to their situations?

Although our sisters, mothers and grandmothers were marginalized basically on account of their gender, basically subordinated by members of the male folk, women had power,^[20] albeit their power was not legitimated by patriarchy. Naswa ya mošate e fenya e sa rage (A black royal cow prevails even if it does not kick). The tenor of the preceding proverb suggests that a woman is able to control her husband even if she does not possess the strength to fight. African women were thus a force to be reckoned with then and remain so even today. They could (and still can), like women in the book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible, either make or break a man.^[21]

African women’s agency in the survival of their communities was thus recognized beyond any shadow of doubt. Noteworthy is the following proverb which is cited when a daughter is married off: tšhilo le lwala re tšere, le tlo šala le eja lewana (The pestle and the mortar we have taken away; you will only eat (grits), because a diligent girl is married off). The preceding saying signals the celebration of a family which receives a ngwetši (bride). The introduction of a ngwetši to a recipient family signals the exit of hunger and the onset of food/plenty.^[22]

Makhosasana Nzimande’s observation about imbokodo (aka tšhilo) in the traditional Zulu African contexts comes to mind as further affirmation of women’s power and agency everyday: “Imbokodo was an important commodity in traditional Zulu African homesteads and villages, so often utilized on a day-to-day basis that it could not be loaned to neighbours…. Without imbokodo there is no food in a traditional African household.”^[23] What could African communities do without mothers, these important carriers of male lineages? How could African families have survived without wives (basadi/bahumagadi) and dikgadi (paternal sisters) for example? What could have held (and still hold) African families together amid the cruel monsters of apartheid male deaths, exile and migrant labour? Indeed, the lives of (married) African-South African women have historically, especially after the introduction of foreign systems onto South Africa, been typified by an absent male (father/husband). Winnie Mandela is purported to have captured the preceding notion succinctly: “Departures. Waitings. Returns. How right you are! Three pillars of a South African woman’s life.”^[24]

Ellen Kuzwayo provides a glimpse at one reason for the absences and one of the effects of migrant labour upon African families:

We know that the effects of migrant labour are seen on different levels. We experience separation from our menfolk, we have to survive on the low wages the men earn, and we have to endure starvation. We must help ourselves because we know that the South African government is unconcerned and without pity for the suffering and struggle of the black people.^[25]

Sometimes in one’s ruminations about the mess into which Africa has been thrown by foreign systems, one wonders what would have become of us, our identities, national pride, life-enhancing values such as the spirit of communality, botho/Ubuntu and other resources had we not been tampered with. Kuswayo continues, describing the stability and lack of absence that once was:

That black people at that time were owners of the land they tilled and cultivated; that they formed a community with an established cultural and moral code as well as a valid economic structure; these factors together with many others which contributed to the stability and prosperity of individual families, meant that the majority of the black population found no pressing need to leave their homes to go in search of employment.^[26]

As already noted, the introduction of European patriarchies (through colonialism and apartheid) only served to exacerbate the lot of African women.

Several factors within the apartheid apparatus, including the torture levelled against resisting black South Africans, the revolutionary spirit, and the spirit of patriotism of many an African man, led to the absence (and or disappearance) of men (sometimes permanently) from their homes. The following laws which were formulated to promote, regulate, and enforce the migrant labour system are notable: (1) The 1913 Land Act which disinherited black people from their right to own land in freehold; 2) Regulations to control black people’s livestock, and 3) The implementation of a poll tax levelled on each black man. The cruelty embedded in the latter is the fact that while a black man was forced to pay that poll tax in cash, he was forbidden in some ways to sell stock or grain to raise the tax amount.^[27]

The preceding factors, in my view, would not only mark the onset of a segregated form of poverty, but would also tamper with some form of egalitarianism, at least with regard to the division of labour that used to occur within an African economy. In the latter economy, there was a blurred line of division between the public and the private spheres of work. The preceding scenario would also mean that Western money, which would slowly but surely replace the African form of exchange, came to be more valued and thus preferred. Consequently, work done in the private sphere of the home by African women, came to be devalued when compared to that done by African men in the public sphere. Masenya (ngwan’a Mphahlele) writes,

Even the contribution that African women used to make to the agricultural economy of the family was undermined by the capitalistic government as agricultural economy on the large scale fell into the hands of the powerful few. African women are thus left with infertile fields which only yield poor crops in their small subsistence farming.^[28]

During the colonial and apartheid eras, we also note the truth embedded in the tenor of the proverb regarding the ever-consuming kraal of the heart. The powers that be deemed it fine to keep on enriching the fewer white minority at the expense of the black majority. As they continue to have the economy of the country in their hands, the norm for personhood continues to be white with regard to the economic muscle in post-apartheid South Africa. In the process, African women once again received, and continue to receive the short end of the stick. In the public sphere of “work,” the masculinities of African men were challenged not by traditional leaders, but by white men and women through their exploitation of Black men as cheap labourers. Back in their households, their anger and frustrations were vented on the powerless others that is, women and children.

Although the narrative of the struggle for political freedom, tends to mostly foreground African men as having been in the forefront of the struggle for the liberation of black people, especially in line with the “glorified” place that the public sphere came to occupy, back home (both in the restricted and broader senses) the African womenfolk held the proverbial knife by its cutting edge.

First, they did so by sustaining the family as it navigated through men’s departures and by engaging in the exercise of waiting. The latter exercise itself, especially waiting indefinitely and without any assurance of the return of the object of one’s waiting, was, and is still, particularly taxing. Some women waited for men who never returned. Some waited, and even with their meagre salaries supported the education of their spouses who were in exile, only to be greeted by divorce papers upon their return. Others waited for spouses to come home only to be met by rejection from returning spouses as the women would have failed to stay with the proper, or rather pure seed.^[29] Some waited only to be greeted by assaults. The latter, ironically, were said to be in the name of love! Some of course waited and enjoyed the desired happy reunions. Whatever the case, these women and these children of the African soil, kept the fire alive, by waiting, patiently.

Second and even more importantly, African women held the proverbial knife by its cutting edge as they took care of their husbands’ families and thus nurtured future struggle heroes and heroines, including the would-be political leaders of the longed-for democratic dispensation. In the absence of many men, who were there to take care of the wounded students from the Soweto uprisings, for example? Who were there to witness the many atrocities committed not only on other men but also on the fruits of African women’s wombs? Who were there to suffer the repercussions not only of their activist husbands but their activist selves through the harassment of their families by the apartheid police forces? Who were there to even suffer appalling jail conditions? Who participated in the herstoric/historic march of 9 August1956 (by South African women from all races) to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest the carrying of passes by Black people? The words of Dora Tamana, a founding member of the Federation of South African women are on target:

We, women, will never carry these passes. This is something that touches my heart. I appeal to you young Africans to come forward and fight. These passes make the road even narrower for us. We have seen unemployment, lack of accommodation and families broken because of passes. We have seen it with our men. Who will look after our children when we go to jail for a small technical offence—not having a pass?^[30]

Who were there to continue persistently in prayer and prophesying when such were mostly needed especially among those who dared to continue in their belief that God was on the side of the poor and oppressed? That God desired justice and righteousness on earth? Says the prophet Micah (6:8): “…and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God”?

Third, many African women, in their own ways (overtly and covertly) were part of the struggle for the liberation of our people. Albertina Sisulu (wife of African National Congress leader Walter Sisulu) describes the origin of her decision to contribute to the struggle:

I felt strongly about our plight as the oppressed because when I met my husband he used to explain some of the intricate problems with which we are faced. I combined these unfortunate circumstances, compared them with my own life situation and felt that really, I had no right to be thinking of anything else but to play my humble part in the liberation of my people. I resolved to help whoever was in need. ^[31]

As a matter of fact, from the 1970s on, women were integrated into many aspects of the struggle for liberation. Many also went into exile and continued their activism in other parts of Africa and abroad. In the eighties, when South Africa faced more organized resistance than before, the freedom of press became more restricted. In its efforts to deal with the protests that were becoming intense, frequent States of Emergency were enacted and many people were detained. About 12 percent of the 3050 people detained during 1986/1987, were women and girls.^[32]

Considering the preceding observations, does it occasion any surprise that more than six decades ago, one of these African women, in the person of Lilian Ngoyi, would come up with an effective strategy during the 1956 women’s protests at Union buildings? The women staged a march on the Union buildings to protest the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act. Are we surprised, as noted earlier, that in 1986 Mam Lydia Kompe brought together rural women from Braklaagte, Majakaneng, Kwa AANgema, Mogopa, Mathopestad, Oukasie, Huhudu, Bloedfontein and Driefontein because the areas all faced forced removals and incorporations.^[33] Many more examples of women’s overt and covert activism could be cited in this regard. In light of the preceding agency revealed by African women throughout our history as a people, also looking at the gains made so far in our history, we could with confidence acclaim that there is indeed some cause to celebrate.

We Have Cause to Look Back and Celebrate: Why?

Building on the shoulders of our predecessors, we have cause to celebrate the following and more.

First, the constitution in its affirmation of the rights of all, includes the rights of women and girl children. In Chapter 2, Section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa we read

The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against any one on one or more grounds, including race, gender, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.^[34]

Second, the equality of women and girl children is notable in the field of education. The traditional notion of a girl-child whose education could not be invested in, because that would be deemed as a waste due to the impending marriage, is slowly being eroded or totally eroded. As a matter of fact, especially at some of the tertiary institutions, the ratio of women students is higher than that of their men counterparts. Related to the preceding fact is the observation that more and more women can join the labour market and make important contributions in the public sphere. They participate in the various spheres: politics, medicine, economics, humanities, law, theology, science and technology, among others. Most of these women are economically able to run single-parented families with success.

Third, the African notion that once they are led by a female, they are certain to fall into a donga is problematized. Apart from the South African parliament with its sizeable female representation, there is a potential of female presidential candidates.

Fourth, the government has established entities that guard and protect the rights and interests of women and girl children.

Fifth, the state grants afforded the elderly and children (cf. the child grant) have women as the greatest beneficiaries. Although the grants are not sufficient to cater to the needs of many a family with unemployed persons, they contribute to relieving the burden that would naturally have been carried by women.

Bringing the tenor of the ever-consuming proverbial kraal to bear on the present, tough situation leads one to argue that although we have many reasons to celebrate the gains made so far since 1994, the struggle, especially for the affirmation of African women, still continues. As one casts a bosadi gaze on the post-apartheid South African landscape, there are, regrettably, enough reasons to argue that the struggle is far from over. Why?

First, although South Africa carries one of the most affirming constitutions in the world, the spirit of greed revealed in corruption, among other practices, seems to blur the vision of those in power from ensuring that the rights of all citizens, especially the right to human dignity and equality, are taken care of.

Second, although more and more girls and women have access to education than was the case before, the #Fees Must Fall Campaign^[35] reveals effects of the unfortunate legacies inherited from the previous dispensations, as the racialized nature of poverty means many black students are not able to pay their fees for higher education. To add injury to the insult, for the few students who manage to graduate, the challenge of unemployment becomes a daunting reality.

Third, although there are entities, including the portfolio in the office of the presidency to protect the rights of women and girl children, gender-based violence has escalated post-independence. What an irony in a country with such an affirming constitution. Research has revealed that South Africa ranks among the top five countries in the world with regard to rape statistics.^[36]

Fourth, poverty and inequality continue to rear their ugly heads not least on account of greedy, self-serving corrupt leaders, leaders who seem geared toward satisfying the difficult-to-gratify, ever-consuming kraals of their hearts. That corruption seems to have been normalized in the South African setting is a fact. It is as though most of those who have been elected to serve the people, are competing in the evil of corruption.^[37] Hence there is lament:

Cronyism, nepotism, cadre deployment, tenderpreneurs. These are words that should never have entered our daily vocabulary. But we all know them. Because they happen all the time. It’s what we are familiar with under the present government.^[38]

That the concerns of most of those who occupy government positions seem to be for adding to the ever-consuming kraals of their hearts is thus beyond any shadow of doubt.

Pravin Gordhan’s remark at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summits, Jo’burg, are worth noting, “Let me tell you that from where I stand and what I see, this [corruption] is a disease that a hospital or health system cannot solve.”^[39] In Gordhan’s view, the South African leadership and its people have to fight greed and selfishness, factors which are the underlying ones behind corruption. He continues, “If we don’t do that we give in to a culture that says ‘I want everything now. I want to be a millionaire now…I want the best car even if I can’t afford it’. We are creating a wrong kind of culture.”

In the midst of the lack service delivery, the glaring greed among those who are supposed to be the servants of the people, are we surprised about the impatience on the part of the poorest of the poor? Their impatience is such that even the ruling party acknowledges it: “There is patent impatience with the pace of change—and this expresses itself among the poorest in society as well as some African professionals and youth,” the report said.^[40]

Being concerned about the apparent detached stance of the public representatives towards the welfare of the SA citizenry, Mangena argues that much unlike the youth militants of the apartheid era in their commitment to the struggle, the present representatives operate from a position of comfort. They are well fed, housed, own cars and paid very well by the state. They seem to have forgotten that we have a legacy of over 400 years of oppression and deliberate impoverishment of the majority black population to overcome. He asks the following critical questions:

Can you imagine how we would have been if a lot of public representatives were not overtaken by issues of corruption, nepotism, cronyism, incompetence and naked greed? Just imagine how our country would look like if the million-plus civil servants, who are well-paid and comfortable, were just a fraction as committed in their work as our militants who fought for freedom with scant resources! Imagine if most of them were appointed on merit and not corruption and nepotism. Just imagine a South Africa in which the auditor-general gives all our departments and municipalities clean audits, which would mean that public resources are used for the good of society.^[41]

Conclusion

From the works of former black liberation theologians and biblical scholars, one is left with no shadow of doubt that they propagated the God who took sides with the poor and the needy. The God of the Exodus is the One who heard the plight of the needy and oppressed and sent Moses as deliverer of God’s people from the land of slavery and bondage. Does it occasion any wonder that in later texts of the Hebrew Bible, this liberative tradition, that runs not only throughout the text of the Old Testament, but throughout the whole Christian Bible, could still be heard from both prophets and sages alike? In Jeremiah 9:23-24(MEV) we read:

²³Thus says the LORD:

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

And let not the mighty man glory in his might,

Let not the rich man glory in his riches;

²⁴ but let him who glories glory in this,

That he understands and knows Me,

That I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness,

Justice, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these things, I delight, says the LORD.

Similarly, in Proverbs14:31 (MEV), the sage notes, “He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy on the poor.”

From the works of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, whose founder and member is the honoree Dr. Mercy Amba Oduyoye,^[42] it is also crystal clear that the “poor” of the world who used to form the core subject of interrogation mostly by African male theologians and biblical scholars are not the same “poor” who are subjects of Circle women theologians. African women are multiply oppressed. Even before colonialism (and apartheid) in our South African context, patriarchy had a share in legitimating the oppression of African women as we have previously noted in agreement with Oduyoye. However, we are, thus, also reminded that God, through Jesus of Nazareth, has become one with African women. Oduyoye and Elizabeth Amoah write,

In Christ all things hold together. The integrity of the woman (a person) as born into a particular culture, and yet belonging to a community of Christ believers, is ensured. The integrity of the woman (a person) as body/soul is ensured, recognized, and promoted by the way Jesus of Nazareth lived and interacted with women and with persons handicapped by death-dealing cultural demands and by physical and material needs. The Christ has held body/soul together by denouncing oppressive religious practices that ignored well-being. It is this Christ who has become for us, for African women and for Africa, the saviour and liberator of the world. This Christ dominates the spiritual churches of Africa such as the one to which Afua Kuma belongs.^[43]

Behind the preceding biased stance, especially towards those on the margins of the earth’s community, is the dignity inherent in all human beings irrespective of their gender, race, ethnicity, age, and social class, among other identities. According to the Priestly editor in Genesis 1:26-27, ‘ādam, that is a human being, was created in the image of God; ‘ādam, both male and female, was instructed to rule over all of creation, not in a tyrannical self-serving way. No! As stewards, and thus God’s representatives on earth, they are expected to rule over creation with commitment and care. This is affirmed in Genesis 1:26-27 (MEV),

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing upon the earth.” ²⁷ So God created humankind in his image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

Adam is thus a member of royalty. Hence in the meditation of the psalmist in Psalm 8:4-6 (NRSV), ‘ādam is identified as made a little lower than Elohim!

⁴What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? ⁵Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with honour and glory. ⁶You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet.

Those members of the human race who have been entrusted with the responsibility to take care of creation, and of fellow members of the human race, have to conduct such a royal mandate in the context of stewardship and not that of tyranny, greed and corruption. Such have the responsibility to challenge and dismantle kyriarchy, deliberately defeating the temptation to constantly make “impossible” efforts to fill the ever-consuming proverbial kraal of the heart, even at the expense of the poor and needy in our communities. With such a justice-seeking commitment, perhaps South Africa and Africa as a whole may be humanized again, and in that way the hard labours of liberationist theologians like Mercy Amba Oduyoye would not have been in vain.

NOTES

1. Mosibudi Mangena, “Martyrs Turning in Their Graves: Greed, Corruption Betrary the Struggle,” Sowetan Live, June 22, 2016, https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2016-06-22-martyrs-turning-in-their-graves-greed-corruption-betray-the-struggle/. ↑

2. The Northern Sotho proverb that comes to mind here is dinaka tša go rwešwa ga di gomarele hlogo.” (Artificial horns do not stick to a head to which they do not belong.) The surgery metaphor indicates the intention to reject an artificial or temporary point of view as reflected in the iterative development of Masenya’s bosadi approach reflecting an African-South African context. ↑

3. In the light of this preoccupation with Africa and its concerns, it becomes a misunderstanding to regard the bosadi approach as a local approach, restricted only to the Northern Sotho. See Sarojini Nadar, “A South African,” 159-175; Tinyiko S. Maluleke “African ‘Ruths,’ Ruthless Africas: Reflections of an African Mordecai,” in Other Ways of Reading: African Women and the Bible, ed. Musa W. Dube (Atlanta: SBL / Geneva: WCC Publications, 2001), 237-251. Although the Northern Sotho African-South African context serves as point of departure within the bosadi framework, Masenya (ngwan’a Mphahlele)’s goal was to include other African-South African contexts. The latter would also not be far-fetched compared to other African contexts elsewhere on the continent. ↑

4. Madipoane Masenya (ngwana’ Mphahlele), “An African Methodology for South African Biblical Sciences: Revisiting the Bosadi (Womanhood) Approach,” OTE 18/3 (2005): 744-45. ↑

5. Masenya (ngwana’ Mphahlele), How Worthy Is the Woman of Worth? Proverbs 31:10-13 in an African-South African Context (Peter Lang: New York, 2004), 122. ↑

6. See Maluleke, “African ‘Ruths,’” 243-244. Although Maluleke is right in arguing that the bosadi concept is a male-construct, I find this to be an unfortunate criticism given the patriarchal history which has shaped the languages of the world. I am not aware of any words used to designate women for example, “woman,” “feminine” and “female” which were originally coined by women. In the light of such history, I have employed this male-constructed terminology, and redefined it, to affirm those who have not only been named, but those whose roles have been defined and prescribed by outsiders to their gender. See Masenya (ngwana’ Mphahlele), How Worthy? 122-158. ↑

7. Ferdinand E. Deist, “South African Old Testament Studies and the Future,” Old Testament Essays 5 (1992): 315-316; Teresa Okure, “Invitation to African Women’s Hermeneutical Concerns,” African Journal of Biblical Studies (2003): 74. ↑

8. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “Europhone or African Memory: The Challenge of the Pan-Africanist Intellectual in the Era of Globalization” in African Intellectuals: Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development, ed. Thandika Mkandawire (London/New York: Zed Books, 2005), 158. ↑

9. Mam Lydia brought together rural women in South Africa for the first time. The women came from Braklaagte, Majakaneng, Kwa AANgema, Mogopa, Mathopestad, Oukasie, Huhudu, Bloedfontein and Driefontein.” The crisis faced by all of the preceding areas was around forced removals and incorporations. See Lydia Kompe, Beauty Mkhize, Black Sash (Society), Transvaal Rural Action Committee, Janet Small, “The Rural Women’s Movement: Holding the Knife on the Sharp Edge” (Transvaal Rural Action Committee, 1994), 4. ↑

10. The Northern Sotho proverb, wa re o bona e hlotša, wa e nametša thaba (literally, when you saw it (a cow) limping, you still let it climb a mountain anyway) has the following tenor: something (a specific situation) is being exacerbated (made worse). In the present textual context, colonial and apartheid patriarchies worsened the condition of African women. ↑

11. Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1994), 173. ↑

12. Eileen Jensen Krige, Social System of the Zulus (Cape Town: Via Africa, 1956), 62. ↑

13. The Northern Sotho word “botho” derived from motho (human being) simply means kindness; it entails “care” shown by a human being to others. ↑

14. It is no wonder that even the age-old trend is a pattern which persists even up to this day (cf. the mushrooming of the so-called “blessers” and sugar daddies in our day) of older men preferring younger women. ↑

15. A man is a pumpkin plant; he spreads. ↑

16. A man is a baboon; he eats with two hands. ↑

17. A man is an axe, loaned in the evening. ↑

18. Chapter 2, Section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa reads, “The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against any one on one or more grounds, including race, gender, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth,” 1247. ↑

19. TMG Digital, “Corruption Synonymous with Government under Zuma: Buthelezi” SowetanLive, June 12, 2016, 2, https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2016-06-12-corruption-synonymous-with-government-under-zuma-buthelezi/. Accessed September 9, 2016. ↑

20. The Northern Sotho/Pedi proverb says: Naswa ya mošate e fenya e sa rage. ↑

21. Phyllis A. Bird, “Images of Woman in the Book of Proverbs” in Religion and Sexism: Images of Woman in the Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Rosemary R. Ruether (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974), 41-60. ↑

22. Also see Madipoane Masenya (ngwan’a Mphahlele), How Worthy Is the Woman of Worth? Rereading Proverbs 31:10-31 in African South Africa (New York: Peter Lang, 2004). ↑

23. Makhosasana K. Nzimande, Postcolonial Biblical Interpretation in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Gebirah in the Hebrew Bible in the Light of Queen Jezebel and the Queen Mother of Lemuel (PhD Dissertation, Texas Christian University, 2005), 22. ↑

24. Njabulo Ndebele, The Cry of Winnie Mandela (Claremont: David Philip, 2003). ↑

25. Ellen Kuzwayo, “Hungry in a Rich Land” in Sometimes when It Rains: Writings by South African Women, ed. Ann Oosthuizen (London, New York: Pandora, 1987). ↑

26. Kuzwayo, “Hungry in a Rich Land,” 99. ↑

27. Kuzwayo, “Hungry in a Rich Land,” 99-100. ↑

28. Madipoane Masenya (ngwan’a Mphahlele), How Worthy Is the Woman of Worth? Rereading Proverbs 31:10-31 in African South Africa (New York: Peter Lang, 2004), 147. ↑

29. This reference is to the present textual context: to have children that only belong to their husbands. ↑

30. Quote included at South African History Online, “Women’s Resistance in the 1960s Sharpeville and Its Aftermath,” https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/protest-against-pass-laws-langa. Accessed October 12, 2022. ↑

31. Miriam Tladi, “Interview with Mrs. Albertina Sisulu” in Sometimes when It Rains: Writings by South African Women, ed. Ann Oosthuizen (London, New York: Pandora, 1987), 172. ↑

32. “Women and Detention” South African History Online, https://www.sahistory.org.za/ sites/default/files/archive-files/ChMay89.1024.8196.000.026.May1989.10.pdf, 1. ↑

33. See Lydia Kompe, Beauty Mkhize, Black Sash (Society), Transvaal Rural Action Committee, Janet Small, “The Rural Women’s Movement: Holding the Knife on the Sharp Edge” (Transvaal Rural Action Committee, 1994), 4. ↑

34. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Constitution Act No. 108 of 1996, Chapter 2, “Bill of Rights,” 9.3, Equality. ↑

35. #FeesMustFall was a South African student movement that began in 2015 protesting lack of access to higher education because of financial exclusion. ↑

36. See “Rape Statistics by Country,” World Population Review, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/rape-statistics-by-country. Accessed October 12, 2022. ↑

37. Some of the corruption scandals that rocked South Africa include, but not limited to, Local Government - tenderpreneurship, Tshwane prepaid meters, the SAPS, The Metro Police; Prasa; False Aualifications; Home Affairs - the cabinet and parliament (theft and fraud charges to the abuse of parliamentary travel vouchers in a case known as the Travelgate (2-3); http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/99074/10-corruption-scandals-that-rocked-sout...2016/09/29. ↑

38. TMG Digital, “Corruption Synonymous with Government under Zuma: Buthelezi” SowetanLive, June 12, 2016, 1, https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2016-06-12-corruption-synonymous-with-government-under-zuma-buthelezi/. Accessed September 9, 2016. ↑

39. In a more or less similar vein, Buthelezi argues, “At all levels of government we see maladministration and corruption. And even our President has not been without blemish. This has led to an outcry throughout the country. One cannot help remembering the saying that when the fish rots, the rot starts at the head.” TMG Digital, “Corruption Synonymous with Government under Zuma: Buthelezi” SowetanLive, June 12, 2016, 1, https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2016-06-12-corruption-synonymous-with-government-under-zuma-buthelezi/. Accessed September 9, 2016. ↑

40. In its 2015 National General Council Planning Documents, the ANC conceded that “repetitive poor management of allegations of corruption and patronage within high leadership echelons” have undermined the legitimacy of the ANC state. It is further reported that over the past few years, what has been created is the general impression of systemic corruption, particularly from “unsavoury developments” in state-owned enterprises, “strange machinations” in security and tax authorities, and “unconvincing responses” to calls for accountability. See Staff Writer, “ANC Admits It Has a Corruption Problem,” Business Tech, August 18, 2015, https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/96015/anc-admits-it-has-a-corruption-problem/. ↑

41. Mosibudi Mangena, “Martyrs Turning in Their Graves: Greed, Corruption Betrary the Struggle” Sowetan Live, June 22, 2016, https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2016-06-22-martyrs-turning-in-their-graves-greed-corruption-betray-the-struggle/. ↑

42. For more elaborate exposition of the critical role that Mercy A. Oduyoye has played both in the ecumenical movements as well as in the founding of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, see the recently published book titled A History of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, 1989-2007 by R. Nyagondwe Fiedler (Malawi: Mzuni, 2017). ↑

43. Elizabeth Amoah and Mercy Amba Oduyoye, “The Christ for African Women” in With Passion and Compassion: Third World Women Doing Theology, ed. Virginia Fabella and Mercy Amba Oduyoye (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1989).

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