Every time South Africans take to the streets against gender-based violence and femicide, I can’t help but think back to the 2018 Total Shutdown march, and how women and gender nonconforming people explicitly asked men not to attend… But, as is usually the case in our morally depraved society, entitlement won. Some men ignored that plea and forced themselves into a space that was never theirs to occupy, convinced that this was an act of solidarity. It wasn’t.
It was another stark reminder of how men, even in moments of crisis, centre themselves.

Fast forward to today, and I see men marching again. The same men who rape infants, teenagers, mothers, and grandmothers. The same men who catcall schoolgirls and beat their partners to a pulp behind closed doors. The same men who control the entire criminal justice system — the police, the courts, the legislature — the very system that enables this violence. The same men who maintain an iron grip over the economy through patriarchy, the ones who could actually do something if they wanted to. However, instead of wielding their power to “pour sand in the gears of the machine,” they choose performative allyship. They march. They chant. They cry crocodile tears for the very same survivors they create. #JusticeForCweCwe rings hollow. The truth is there’s a time for protest and a time for action, and this moment demands more than empty rhetoric; it demands a real shift in power dynamics to create substantive change that lasts.

The Domestic Violence Act, though significant, is not enough. Laws mean nothing when enforcement is selective, biased, or simply non-existent. We need independent oversight bodies with actual powers to investigate and penalise inaction (and corruption) in GBV cases. The police, both men and women, fail survivors daily, and an external body with real authority would be able to hold them accountable. We need mandatory state intervention policies, similar to those in Sweden, where the justice system treats domestic violence as a state issue rather than a private (civil) matter. In Sweden, the police are required to intervene and investigate even if the victim does not file charges. Such a change would help survivors in South Africa feel less isolated and burdened, which could reduce the fear of retaliation and secondary victimisation. We need expanded legal protections to ensure restraining and protection orders are effectively enforced, with immediate consequences for non-compliance. There are numerous cases of women being repeatedly abused by people they have existing protection orders against, only for the system to fail them again. These measures must go hand-in-hand with the retraining of our police men and women to ensure proper enforcement and a more survivor-centred response.

Men control the economy — the corporations, wages, resources. If they refuse to use that power to end gender-based violence voluntarily, they must be compelled. This can be achieved by offering tax incentives for companies that fund women’s shelters, provide free legal services to survivors, or create rehabilitation programmes for abusers. Impose heavy penalties on corporations that fail to implement gender-based violence policies or support survivors within their workforce. There must be a zero-tolerance policy for voyeuristic bystanders. We must be intentional about funding women-led grassroots initiatives that bypass patriarchal gatekeepers and put money directly into the hands of those working to end GBV on the ground.

Ending gender-based violence also requires a fundamental shift in narratives and the systems that uphold them. The entitlement that fuels GBV isn’t biological, it’s taught. It’s in the way schools reinforce gender roles, the way media normalises male aggression, the way religion preaches female submission. These narratives must be disrupted before they become deeply entrenched. Schools must overhaul curricula to include comprehensive education on gender, consent, and power dynamics from an early age (not merely ‘sex-ed’). The media must reform its representation of masculinity and femininity, dismantling the glorification of toxic male aggression and ending the “Sarah Baartmanification” (the hypersexualisation and exploitation of Black women’s bodies) of South African women and teenage girls. Religious and cultural institutions must also be held accountable for the role they play in shaping attitudes towards gender and power, as well as their tendency to protect predators. Patriarchy in this country can never be separated from its historical entanglement with Christian Calvinism.

Marching, chanting, and catchy hashtags won’t break the back of a system that thrives on women’s subjugation. As Dr Claud Anderson reminds us: “We’ve been marching for 150 years and haven’t moved an inch.” The issue isn’t just about “raising awareness” — we’ve been aware!
Real change means dismantling the systems that enable and shield abusers, redistributing power and resources, and demanding accountability at every level of society. No more crocodile tears. No more performative activism.
Action. Now.

Peace and Black Power ❤ 🖤 💚

Note: Waiting for Revolution was written in July 2021 as a letter to a close friend, during a time of intense political frustration and social unrest. I found myself reflecting on the ongoing struggles and the cycle of oppression that we seem unable to break. Although I never posted it until now, the message still feels just as urgent today. Sometimes, words need time to find their place in the world—and this letter, written in the heat of the moment, now serves as a reminder of the battles we’ve yet to win.**

Seems like ‘our govt’ is blaming just 7 people for the killings of over 100 Afrikans in the #PhoenixMassacre, hardly surprising given how they have been blatantly ignoring the murders right? 

“Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” after all, and this is History indeed repeating itself, except the state is now ostensibly non-white.

It’s clear that this anti-Black govt will either kill us, imprison us, or turn us into pariahs… 

And if we continue in this vein they will emerge victorious, because as much as we may be pro black it’s high time we accept that many of our people are not. I’m not trying to suggest the majority of our people are anti-black by any means, I’m speaking of the ones with access to resources and agency who tweet among us but are seemingly indifferent, at least outwardly. 

We may have the drive and the passion to see our people emancipated but where/what is our strategy? We don’t even have a single litigation organisation like an AfriScrotum to deal with Phoenix or even apartheid murderers accordingly.

Anyway I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I’m left wondering: how many of us have actually accepted and made peace with the fact that “economic freedom” or “revolution” or whatever people want to call it will not be achieved in our lifetime? 

I see many who say they’re pro black spending far too much time deriding & criticising other Afrikans, which to me is not constructive. The very essence of Pan-Afrikanism is to unite all our people in spite of our differences, you should strive to bring your people home — not cast them further away. I said as far back as 2012 that we were fostering a culture of anti-intellectualism and this is the outcome. Instead of bringing forth ideas to move us forward we’re calling each other names like juveniles.

#PhoenixMassacre should have been the last straw, since it wasn’t we must re-evaluate our position in the revolution, and decide what foundations we can put in place to secure our great grandchildren’s futures. While it’s easy to spot the performative activism of liberal whites we must also confront the reality of performative pro blackness, such as calling for war in our present state, which isn’t pro blackness that’s suicide… and I’m unwilling to sacrifice any more black lives.

I have friends and family who refuse to vote but I’m yet to hear a single one of them tell me what it is they’re doing to actively de-legitimise the system, I do not believe merely abstaining from the vote is doing something since the system goes on with or without your input — as a matter of fact it’s a cop out because with that majority of +-18mn you could easily pass laws in parliament that are more favourable to Black people… Someone once said: Black people are power celibate.

I do not agree with the claim that “we got political freedom but not economic freedom” because economics is a by-product of politics. Even as Parliament was dealing with the land question many didn’t participate because “ANC will sell us out anyway” or some other weak excuses… at least put your suggestions on record for the benefit of future generations, no? How crazy is it that we’re allowing white people to ‘convince’ us that 5mn small scale farms is somehow less food secure than just 500 massive corporate farms producing all our food. 

Sounds a lot like Yurugu to me, and that’s our reality. That’s the depth of the unconsciousness of our people. I’m also starting to think that many pro black tweeps suffer from the same hubris as politicians, they believe or want/need to be part of ‘something bigger’, so they are unlikely to accept the role of a lowly worker bee. They are boisterous but is much of what they’re saying practical? James Baldwin said, “I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do”. 

Perhaps this is the Great War of our time, the war for our minds… because while many talk pro black their existence is a very Eurocentric one. A life of materialism, hyper consumerism, liberalism’s notions of individuality and competition, the hypocrisy of organised religion; these are all Eurocentric notions. Despite that on no less than 3 occasions I’ve witnessed as many pro black people defended Juju’s right to wear Gucci for example… what kind of psychosis is that?! 

I’m a real nigga, and I would never ask anyone to do something that I would not do myself – I practice what I preach. I buy local, I live well within my means, I have a little veg in my patch so I’m more than ready to upscale when we get back the land, I reduse, reuse & recycle waste because I’m at harmony with nature… these for me, are a few of the fundamental differences between myself and Yurugu and some of these non-white slaves masquerading ouchea. 

To be honest I’m done trying to ‘wake people up’. I’m trying to find people who accept the fact that some people are comfortably asleep in their queen sized beds with 1200 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and the a/c all the way up. Why have we allowed the role of politics in society to be diminished? Why have we allowed the arts to be decimated? We are overrun by these bloody robots with their glossy STEM degrees but the consciousness of a 5yr old!

So many of these things are happening while we watch — we can only comfort ourselves by pointing fingers at those who are fully immersed in their illusion of freedom. People say the system is rigged and it’s true, but we can only change it from within — that’s partly why its so easy for our leaders to be co-opted by the establishment. We need to develop a new crop of leaders who are resilient, and that can only happen with time. We need to be realistic, pragmatic.

There are no short cuts, and if we are aware that revolution happens in stages, we need patience and dedication and most importantly, selflessness. The masses took to the streets recently and they found us “intellectuals” unprepared to implement phase 2 of the revolution. Marikana happened under our watch. Fees Must Fall happened while we looked on. Phoenix is still unfolding as we speak and we are failing our people once again.

I fear my children will one day spit on my grave. There are too many of us who are smart and well read and have a deep love for Black people and everything Blackness. We need more philosophical writers who can elucidate the present day black experience. We need to make music, movies and documentaries showcasing Afrika how we see her, so others can gain an understanding of the Afrika we want and why it is absolutely imperative they unite with us.

If people think the constitution is the problem then let’s change it! I could be wrong but there has been no referendum staged in this country since 94, given our poor electoral turnout, would people show up for that vote? Methinks not, and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. We have barely used half of the tools currently at our disposal and we already want them discarded, why? Will we not institute a new constitution post revolution? It’s so counter intuitive… 

Our ‘servants’ are currently paying themselves millions and gorging themselves at the trough of corruption; and the easing of the alcohol ban and the promise of a paltry R350/month is seemingly sufficient to appease our people… it can’t be, and yet it is, and again just like before, we are watching… people despise politicians but refuse to accept the responsibility of removing them. Something has to give…

First things first, concepts and definitions matter.
In that spirit, this current composition of government is what is
known as a grand coalition, as there was no political instability,
no conflict or war, nor any transition from one form of regime to
another (e.g. a change from authoritarian apartheid to democracy).
Those sympathetic to the marriage of inconvenience can refer to it
as a government of national unity (hereafter GNU) until the cows
come home, but that does not make it so. Allow me to add that I
fully expect the “GNU Dawn” to bow out with less of a whimper
than its predecessor from the glory days of Ramaphoria.

I read an article by Mosibudi Mangena titled: Will the GNU be
another bandage?, and while I don’t disagree with much of what
uBab Mangena says, the question about the figurative ‘bandage’ is
moot — as it has already been answered, emphatically, by the real
GNU of 1994. Unlike many thought leaders in the commentariat, I
do not believe there to be a ‘divergence in ideology’ between the
main actors of the so-called GNU, namely, the African National
Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA); both are
fiercely anti-Black, pro-capitalist, neoliberal right wing
organisations. Another big player within white power’s grand
coalition, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), is situated even further to
the right of the political spectrum. A slave owner who ensures his
slaves are fed enough to work the next day cannot be said to be
acting out of benevolence…

The crucial question, according to Mangena, is “whether the GNU
could cure South Africa of its fundamental fault line, which is the
poverty of the majority Blacks, and the immense wealth of the
white minority,” and well, the ANC, which at one point enjoyed a
near two-thirds majority in Parliament, would often lament the
resistance to its transformative policies and legislation emanating
from the white power nexus of opposition parties in Parliament,
the white-owned media, as well as big business (SA inc.). One can
only wonder why, after losing a whopping seventeen(17)
percentage points in the recent general elections, this limping
former giant of African liberation politics chose to coalesce with
the very same forces it accused of stifling progress! President
Cyril Ramaphosa said in one of his speeches that “South Africans
were defined by hope and resilience,” the belief (or hope) that this
iteration of GNU will fare better than the original mishmash
reconciliatory pacifier of Mandela is folly.

Back in 1994, the ANC committed to transferring thirty (30)
percent of land to Africans who were dispossessed by centuries of
colonialism and apartheid, yet recent studies show that a paltry 4%
of land has been restored to its rightful owners. The mineral
wealth that lies beneath the soil continues to benefit a well
resourced (read: white) minority, and the spoils of democracy have
not accrued to the African majority, who constitute over eighty
(80) percent of the population. The DA faction of the GNU
recently announced its opposition to the amendment of Section 25
of The Constitution to allow for Expropriation Without
Compensation… affirming once again whose interests they serve.
If we continue to delude ourselves with euphemisms such as GNU
or Rainbow Nation instead of dealing with the proverbial elephant
in the room, the powder keg that is landlessness will eventually
erupt, engulfing us all in the ensuing chaos. Land first, the rest
shall follow, because as Malcolm X teaches us, “revolution is
based on land.”
Peace and Black Power.

So I went to a Catholic school (sticklers for the rules), and throughout most of my school career, I spent countless hours either in detention, in the principals office, and I was even suspended for a stretch… Not because I was some juvenile delinquent of a troublemaker oh no no no, the beef was all because of my luxurious natural Black hair, child.

I was neither trying to rebel nor make a statement or anything of that nature, it was not a form protest nor was it a demonstration, I most certainly did not possess the vocabulary to articulate about my crown — all I wanted was to be left alone to grow my hair out if I wanted, put cornrows if I chose, maybe do natty dread, or even shave a Mohawk… however these colonial institutions of indoctrination called schools are designed to essentially beat the Blackness out of us, at both a psychological and spiritual level.

Who knew merely existing as the Black kid I was could cause so many white adults such consternation?! My very Blackness was offensive to the school’s western sensibilities, because how dare this Black barbarian refuse to “comply and submit to the will of Jesus… uncombed hair is messy, therefore it’s ungodly because cleanliness is next to godliness…” and so on and so forth and stuff like that. I also distinctly remember how Black kids were prohibited from speaking vernac, meanwhile Frikkie & Marietjie could praat all day. Lol

The fact that natural Black hair is still an issue, here in apartheid, is more evidence of exactly how little things have changed in the last decade and a half since I completed school, and in the nearly 30 years under ANC misrule. To this day our Blackness remains a crime, to this day, it is only native sons and daughters of this land who’s hair is policed. To be frank, allowing ourselves to still be pathologised and to have every aspect of our lives interpreted through the prism of whiteness is sickening!

In this latest racist incident which took place at Crowthorne Christian Academy, which was found to be operating illegally amidst their atrocious acts of whiteness I might add, I noted how the parents stood up for their child and defended her right to just BE. In all my school years, not once did my folks stand up for me or defend my right to wear my hair how I liked, not one time was my Blackness affirmed… I don’t blame them however, because many a parent believe being a ‘good Black’ will shelter them and their children from racism.

We must resist any and all efforts by apartheid apologists who seek to claw back the tiny gains we got through democracy. The pencil test was discriminatory, and that expression of anti-Black racism is the genesis and the reason we still have nonsensical school policies that prescribe and proscribe Black children’s appearance. As the great Steve Biko warned in one of his few interviews: “In 1966, there was an anomaly where Whites participated in our oppression & in opposition to that oppression. A totality of White power…”

Precious little has changed since then as evidenced by the sheer number of Black people, still confused by the cognitive dissonance of their perceived inferiority, defending this racist school, it’s principal, as well as its archaic rules. The notion of white supremacy can never be uprooted for as long as Black people view themselves as less than or unworthy of being who they are, and looking how their maker intended them to look — the irony of course, is that this latest manifestation of apartheid was sparked at a Christian school… WWJD indeed.

There’s a sea change on the horizon, however, because a more socially and politically conscious, proud native is finally awakening from a rainbow delusion induced stupor. Black people who do not care for Eurocentric standards of beauty, or about being “acceptable to society” merely because they coddle whiteness (political correctness) or conform to the ridiculous notions of white supremacy.

We need more Africans who defend their children whenever racists attempt to deny them an opportunity to learn due to appearance… just focus on teaching and learning!

I’d like to end with the poignant words of Malcolm X: “There will come a time when black people wake up and become intellectually independent enough to think for themselves as other humans are intellectually independent enough to think for themselves. Then the black man will think like a black man and he will feel for other black… people. And this new thinking and feeling will cause black people to stick together, and then at that point we will have a situation where when you attack one black man you are attacking all black man. And this type of black thinking will cause all black people to stick together’ this type of thinking also will bring an end to a brutality inflicted upon black people all over the world. No system designed will help us except us.”

Peace and Black power