Has black consciousness and pan Africanism failed the African continent?

Vukile Theo Phanyaphanya

Vukile Theo Phanyaphanya

Published Jul 10, 2024

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Political concepts and analogies have always provided theories that seem to have been well thought off by those who have taken it upon themselves to solve the problems of human co-existence, those who call themselves politicians.

No matter how beautiful and modest these theories and concepts have appear to be, the reality shows that they have been reduced into nothing but just formulas and sloganeering that have failed to help improve the lives of the people.

We therefore have to ask, will it be correct then to say these socio-economic and political concepts do not work, have never worked or will never work? First, before I deal with the answer to this question, let me bring the reader closer to what I am referring to.

It has been said many a times, especially by Western intelligence agencies, their media and political analysts that Communism has failed and it will never work. Secondly, we have had many of these new-world analysts’ negative comments and words of discouragement and warning against Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanism.

While these vocalists have sung the verse of failure in the implementation of these concepts, we seldom here, if we do at all, them giving a version that tells us why these concepts have either failed or will never work.

What we are clear about though is that pushing the debate that direction will work against their narrative and the intended purpose, which is to demonise Communism, Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanism. The reason for the attack on these three phenomena is quite simple, all three of them are a serious hurdle to the imperial exploitative agenda of capitalism.

Black activists themselves have, in pursuit of their desperate acceptance by white supremacists and anti-communist West, tried everything in the world to sandwich themselves in between the confusion of unfounded concepts which they have dubbed mixed economies, multi-party alliance and even the so-called governments of national unity.

Needless to say, that in a country where there are historical settlers who came not in good faith, but with the sole purpose of looting the resources, it is sheer hypocrisy to pretend that there shall be a peaceful settlement called government of national unity.

By the way the concept itself is a fake formation that is not even found in any thesaurus or dictionary of their own languages. It is a concept used only in Africa just to serve African people with a dummy that when you govern with those that had dispossessed you of your land, you stand a good chance of negotiating your land in peace without violence.

The outcome is that there shall be tension for years which they call peace, and in the midst of that tension the settlers who have now dubbed themselves the nation will continue the generational rape of the land without fear of demand for it. The term national unity only refers to the bio-racial mixture of white and black which they, again misleadingly call it non-racial, while their actions are contrary to the concept of non-racialism.

The settlers become so calculative that they used the resources they loot from the stolen land to pay every piper who in turn sings their tune, the media, the judiciary, state machinery in general and even those natives that get elected by their own with the false hopes of freedom, democracy and good life. They create institutions of false hopes and they always refer the natives to the institutions they have captured and paid either in cash or in kind.

Many a times when the one with the responsibility to bang the hummer of justice is compromised, justice has the tendency to escape through the window of all legalities and when this happens, the act of banging the judicial hummer is often performed with very little or no emotional intelligence and the outcome is mediocre jurisprudence.

This situation then presents African people with a justice system and governments that are not only compromised but also bound hand-in-foot. By so doing the settlers have delegated their duty of resistance and opposition to the ruling native who hang on puppet string.

It is these black rulers that go up front and speak against Communism, Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanism, the master seats back and enjoy the loot with no fear of removal from the land. It is black people themselves that actively sell the narrative that Black Consciousness is racist, Pan-Africanism will never work because black people do not like each other and communism has failed in the East.

Black leaders have been turned into political and economic zombies who, like the nyaope victims, are addicted to bribes and the nonsensical display of material arrogance. It is this arrogance that has now become their mental Robin Island highly fenced and heavily cordoned that they can’t even see the poverty of those that put them to power every five years.

The poison has also infected those that purport to be the leaders and/or exponents of Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanism. Jostling for the crumbs that are falling from the master’s table, they wrestle and find themselves splitting into very small meaningless groups which they unabatedly call organisations, organisations that bear the name tags of individuals who arrogantly demand to be recognised as national leaders.

Organisations of personality cult have developed over the years in Africa. People are voting Mandela instead of the ANC in South Africa, in Namibia people were attached to Nujoma and not Swapo, the same with Banda, Mugabe and the list goes on.

Those who call themselves leaders have realised that people do not internalise the ideology of a party, instead they follow an individual and therefore exploit the situation to use organisations as personal property of individuals and as a spaza shops that put bread on the table. This cultist approach in African politics has compromised the unity of black people in the continent.

It is not surprising that the Kenyan police recently killed rioters who were protesting against the new Finance Bill, black leaders have no conscience, let alone the principles of black consciousness and ubuntu. African leaders have joined the European agenda to feed their stomachs while destroying black people in the continent.

President Ruto has no shame whatsoever to have a crew from Europe literally babysitting the signing of a Bill in his country so the West can satisfy itself that their will is done in Kenya as it is in Europe. The irony in all these developments is that Ruto became a sung hero at the beginning of his term when he spoke for Pan-Africanism and against imperialism and in favour of de-dollarisation and a borderless Africa. However, a few months later, after having been summoned to the World Economic Forum, he changed tune and took a serious U-turn.

African leaders, especially the African Union have for so many years only paid lip service to Pan-Africanism and the development of black people in Africa. Of course, this is a financially sponsored agenda so that the traditional lie continues for generations that Black Consciousness will never work, Pan-Africanism and Communism have failed. Nothing fails without implementation and when black people themselves are de-campaigning Black Consciousness, Pan-Africanism, they are bound to fail.

The recent campaign by black organisations to remove Andile Mngxitama from Parliament claiming he is dividing the nation is one of the worst examples of self-hate by black people. It is without doubt that his only sin is to propagate the Black Consciousness philosophy. The faceless so-called concerned citizens claim that Mngxitama has promoted racism, this is embarrassing to say the list and especially being pushed by an organisation that claims the brains of academics, the teachers.

It is the fake dream of the rainbow nation that drives such campaigns that are only targeting black people. In that Parliament there are white racists that are actively campaigning to have the existence of Orania sustained and even constitutionalised but we do not see similar campaigns from these black hypocrites calling themselves advocates of the rainbow nation.

Black people must be ashamed of themselves. However, we should not be so surprised because it was the same black people’s ANC that actively engaged itself in killing the activists of Black Consciousness in the 80s, a subject which they want to sweep under the rag today and wish no one spoke about.

Vukile Theo Phanyaphanya is a retired teacher and an active author