Nkosana Sibuyi

Posted by Nkosana Sibuyi: 14 May 2010

Where are we going? What values can we instil in our children to build a society underscored by social cohesion, integrity, credibility and respect for humankind? To what extent will the nature, character, form and content of children’s demeanour help create a society founded on sound values, vision and indomitable spirit of resilience? What should be the defining role of young people in building the history, destiny and nation of the future? What is it that we are doing as young people for nation-building, construction of a society devoid of social disorder and ultimately the rediscovery of conscience to maximise the free potential of every person?

These questions are relevant, necessary and complex to respond with certainty. They are informed by certain contradictions and developments that played themselves out in the community where I was born. In essence, the contradictions constitute horrible stories that provide a painful reflection of the state of society in the community in particular and country in general.

Agincourt Village is a community located 24 kilometres south of Thulamahashe and 34 kilometres east of Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province. Accordingly, given the empowering role this community has contributed to my growth and development, from time to time, I reflect on the rediscovery of my innocence and childhood. This community has taught me to appreciate the general and particular values that I continually apply in my existence. It has shaped my worldview, orientation and consciousness.

Education, decorum, unity, dignity, integrity, sense of purpose and direction, respect for the elderly, value for life, resilience, strong work-ethic, and protection of community through its laws, values and principles are lessons that I have derived from the Agincourt community. All of these standards have widened my horizons for the betterment of the community, country, the African continent and the world as a whole. These are some of the values, principles and cardinal doctrines that I ceaselessly cherish and embrace in my continued existence. Pointedly, I recall a number of incidents in the community that demonstrated a sense of unity, community involvement and provision of solutions to societal problems confronting the village.

Around the mid 1990s, there was a group of young people who were caught stealing in the community. Admittedly, prior to that, when they noted that they were seen stealing from some households, they made an attempt to run away. Community members and high school pupils ran after them until they were apprehended, beaten up and later sent to Induna Mayindi’s cottage. When we knocked off from the school, we went to the cottage where they were kept whilst waiting for the police to come and collect them. They were bruised and it was instantly recognisable that punishment was meted out on them. Community justice is discouraged and people are discouraged from taking the law into their own hands. However, as a result of the community involvement and solidarity, it was difficult at the time for any criminal to escape unnoticed and unscathed. Perhaps that is necessary under certain dimensional circumstances. Nonetheless, the current developments at Agincourt have shaken the community in a manner that calls for quicker remedial measures to mitigate the social disorder.

The evolution of society and gestation of communities in a rapidly changing national and global environment has brought with them immense changes at the Agincourt community. Theft, killing, disrespect and social disorder require an introspection of society for the avoidance of the failure of potential. To the community’s dismay, this misdemeanour is at the epicentre of the social fabric. It militates and compromises social cohesion, solidarity, nation building and the upholding of values and principles that the country hold dear.

I was extraordinarily astounded by the killing of my neighbour, Mr Josias Ntlemo and my former teacher ‘Mistress’ Msimang in recent months. The killing of the two sent shockwaves in the community and called for a decisive action to ease this bloodletting. Unsurprisingly, the killing presented a picture of contempt, human made catastrophe and social disorder. What is on display here is the spectacle of social incongruity and the phenomenal hypocrisy of South African young people.

That children are perpetrators, at the centre of the killing of the two, is a matter that calls for maximum vigilance of the community to alleviate the tragedy. No explanation has been proffered on why the lives of the two honourable community citizens were annihilated and terminated from the face of the earth. What can this mean? Some may well ask, if young people hold older citizens to ransom, should we keep quiet and bury our heads deep in the sand? The majority will probably say: No.

What is to be done? There are lessons to be learnt. The solution can only be found not in the demonisation and maligning of young people but in the individual and collective effort of the country to rebuild the concept of community. We are not a cursed society. Our reticence and dithering to act against the delinquency of young people should not create an impression that we are incapable of instilling discipline amongst young people. It requires a tactically, tough-minded innovation, capacity and will power to build a new society.

Historically, on the occasion of the 1976 June uprisings, children were victims of the apartheid juggernaut. Surprisingly, the victims have now become killers in a post apartheid state. This goes into the heart of how young people are brought up in a democratic epoch. The representation of social change and growing confidence in young people to lead society is noble and appreciable. Consequently, this will offer a compelling context to examine who we have become.

The experience, orientation and consciousness of young South African people should be geared towards the creation of a humane society and caring world. Ordinarily, young people should harness these qualities and ultimately contribute to nation building, social cohesion, regeneration and connect with the universe. In essence, this will constitute a centripetal and constructive value for the future. Accordingly, we need to recognise that we do not have control over the forces of nature and the future, life and how it evolves in a rapidly changing environment. In so doing, the current developments represent a living continuity and futuristic thinking amongst young people. Married to the above, they constitute one of the spheres of the African experience, values and reality in the South African community lore.

For this reason, the country should desist from reducing complex challenges into the tyranny of the sound bite signifying nothing substantial in improving the quality of lives of the citizenry. For this reason, it is natural to expect people to play a cardinal role with a view to catapulting the country onto a higher trajectory of growth and development. The observation we have made is that young people have, by hook or crook, occupied a hegemonic leadership role in society and public discourse. Conversely, this should motivate young people to appreciate the growth of consciousness, a cardinal ingredient in the evolution of humankind and how they shape our worldview.

These are some of the social facts that have become part of the socio-economic knowledge of the community. They have now become reference points central to comprehend what this community has become in recent times. Indeed, it is hard to believe. As Professor Njabulo Ndebele aptly puts it: “Beginning with the recovery of childhood and innocence, there are some many other things to be recovered and redefined: the family, the sense of autonomous and secure neighbourhoods rebuilding the concept of community, the sense of nationhood and beyond that, the sense of being part of a larger world. It is a task of enormous proportions. But we have to locate the process of rediscovery in the child and genuinely believe in the newness that will emerge from there. ”

The statement above is also complemented by Alan Badiou, who, in his tome Metapolitics observed that we encounter the same principle, in an entirely different political sequence as it happened during the Cultural Revolution in China. Thus for example, in the Sixteen Points of 8 August 1966 an allusion was made to “let the masses educate themselves in this great revolutionary movement, let them learn to distinguish between just and the unjust, between correct and incorrect way of doing things”

We are not out of depth as a country. We do not lack the requisite acumen and credentials to address issues that are inimical to our growth and development. We are not meandering, bemused and frenetic in shaping the tonality and content of the public discourse in keeping with our commitment to build a better community, country, continent and world. We need to exercise maximum vigilance, vim and zest thus engaging in a process to become the legitimate bearer of power in society.

Although the unfortunate developments that transpired at the Agincourt community are hard to believe and understandably unforgivable, it is incumbent upon us to transform catastrophe into opportunity. We must not allow these developments to determine our future and who we become. The complexity of the questions posed at the beginning requires a semblance of maturity in our response. We are not a cursed society. Let’s hope.