‘When brothers fight to death a stranger inherits their father's estate'

Mail & Guardian

05-05-2025

Professor Bonang Mohale
It is the Nigerian novelist and poet, Chinua Achebe, who opines this chilling Igbo adage that, 'he is a fool who treats his brother worse than a stranger — because when brothers fight to death a stranger inherit their father's estate — that a kinsman in trouble had to be saved, not blamed; anger against a brother was felt in the flesh, not in the bone — and that the White man is very clever — he came quietly and peaceably with his religion.
'We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.'
We have demonstrated to ourselves that we are a resilient people even though they have taken much from us, they couldn't take our stories and our joy! Born of forebears who went through trials and tribulations, broken hearts and unfulfilled dreams but nevertheless, figured out what they are here for and planted in us the same seeds and are, therefore always here for us, stood for justice and dignity and a commitment to do what is right.
Our forebears did not allow society to write their story and it is their song that shifted the atmosphere and changed the world. For those our society has harmed in the past, we are one Family — a quarrelsome Family, one may say, for one has witnessed our quarrels, but when woe falls on us, it welds Family together and draws us closer together. To Family, one always presumes goodwill, an act of faith to a cause in which I and many Africans believe most fervently!
The movement has no lack of differences, disagreements and disputes, bristles with thorns as fiercely as the scrub of the Low Veld and is beset with tangles and thickets of bitter memories, hatred, prejudice, distrust and misunderstanding so densely that, at times, it is difficult to see the wood for the trees.
Because I and many more Africans believe in the greatness of Afrika's destiny and collectively hold the unshakable faith in the future of the land and the people we dearly love, my blood tells me what I must do and I must obey it — that there is freedom still to be attained. We are all of one mind on that, should think of nothing else and until this account is settled, we must not weaken our will by other agendas like greed and conflicting prestige.
And that we shall enjoin our children that they must also take part with us in this, for a remembrance even for our posterity. Every country has a plan for Africa but Africa has no plan for herself. No White person calls himself Chinese, Arabian nor Indian even though he might be born there. It is only in Africa that they want to claim to be also African! No African is fighting with Chinese, Arabs, Indians and Europeans about their respective lands but only Africans feel compelled to explain themselves to all and sundry. We all thirst to feel part of something bigger!
With the greatest of humility and respect — tearfully but nonetheless joyfully, words are often not adequate to express my and Family's gratitude to you and the Board of the Not Alone Foundation for graciously extending to me this truly remarkable, globally coveted and historic recognition. I am eternally grateful for this undeserved honour.
It is also most humbling, though befitting that such honour and celebration is on the grounds of the civil, social and human rights pioneer's holy home — The most Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr in the sacred cathedral of the International Chapel, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia! Allow me to appreciate highly the virtues which ennoble your mission and souls, namely, love of justice, courage, dedication and professional conscience as well as recognise fully the immense services which you render to the world.
As the Psalmist 37:28 so eloquently reminds us that, 'For Jehovah loves justice, And he will not abandon his loyal ones.'
I will be glad to think that this award might, albeit in a small way, become the means through which we restore Black excellence and normalise it as something we wake up to and go to sleep thinking of — of quickening amongst Africans a recognition of our common destiny and bond deeply rooted, which carries with it the obligations of unity in action, a common purpose and greater good — as a tribute of fellowship that 'right through' the texture even of our quarrels, the golden thread still remains — that we are descended from the same trauma, pain and fire and speaking different languages.
But the peoples are kindred people and the languages are of one Family. In our political traditions, our national characteristics and our attitudes of mind, we have much to unite us. Our destiny to build up a United States of Africa with our own purpose, grace, continental vision, economic strategy and the Afro as the common currency, has never been clearer! Officially launched in 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) creates a single market projected to grow to 1.7 billion people and $6.7 trillion in consumer and business spending by 2030.
This preferential trade agreement will increase international exports and intra-African trade, unlocking tremendous opportunities for local and global businesses to enter into and expand throughout new markets across the continent. Four sectors — automotive; agriculture and agro-processing; pharmaceuticals and transport and logistics — were identified by the AfCFTA as important areas of business due to their potential for meeting and exceeding local demand with local production.
And yet, Africa understands that, this is not even the tip of the iceberg of the potential offered by this continent. Indeed, on the big things of continental and national unity, we have always been united. It is only really the little things and sentimental issues that still, to some extent keep us apart. The birth pangs of a new nation that are appealing for a cessation of strife among brethren because we only have one another! Its real value will be in building our African Nationhood wherever we are, anywhere in the world.
Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump 2.0, the world is pondering the implications for growth, cooperation and security in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. As the world continues to recover from economic shocks and navigates the changing geopolitical volatility, rapidly moving geoeconomics, digital transformation and societal shifts, uncertainty remains high!
As a revival of economic nationalism and industrial policy reshapes the world, governments are racing to shore up their readiness to attract investment and establish next-generation industrial hubs within their borders, with value chains simultaneously becoming more complex and regional. At a time of the hugely fragmented age and increasingly unipolar world where interconnected disruptions compound, such as the rapid emergence of new technologies, accelerating just energy transition, war for talent and the new needs of the workforce — leaders are left with less time and space to anticipate and to react than ever before, in their collective quest to, among others, find both new operating models and new ways to cooperate and collaborate across trade and capital; innovation and technology; climate and natural capital; health and wellness and peace and security, thereby, playing a vital role in driving long-term economic growth, creating jobs and sustaining living standards.
Organisations also need wholly new approaches to develop younger and much better equipped leaders that will better thrive in the uncertainty of the 21st century. Africans in the diaspora, have left undone those things that we ought to have done and have done those things that we ought not to have done. Foreign converses pour from our lips and borrowed ropes hang from our necks with the attendant disappearance of ethics and values from the public sphere. The process of globalisation seems to be one of the most far reaching and complex events of our time. It can be described as a primarily economic and technological process, although it inevitably implies social and cultural changes and raises urgent questions related to social justice and human dignity.
There is also a need to examine the ethical issues involved in the seismic shifts that have come with it. The changing patterns of our way of life need a critical reflection on our new moral responsibility for the achievement of a global greater good and common purpose. This point is better accentuated in Proverbs 11:25, that 'the generous person will prosper. And whoever refreshes others will himself be refreshed.' 'When we grow in our healing we come to learn and accept that life will always meet us where we most find our most authentic self. Our strength lies in our vulnerability and flexibility to ebb and flow with what life throws our way.' By forcing our collective mind to quieten down might just help us get closer to nature and to whatever is in our heart, to access the most amazing energy for us to feel grateful, proud, calm, self aware, interconnected and our heart crack wide open to the sense of ecstasy in the air! To both preserve and restore the original bones as a site of importance.
Considering urgent measures to keep alive the architecture; arts; festivals; oral literature; heritage; culture; mores; folklore and folkways; customs; cuisine; traditions; knowledge and language. To take a critical approach, not being afraid to fight with facts to birth a blend of cultural richness, simplicity, immense burden on our collective shoulders and outstanding quality of life and realise the opportunity to decide what will be history and heritage going forward. Together we are responsible for a globalisation of both solidarity and spirituality!
At a time that less than 7% of the global population have their own home, eat adequately, drink clean running water, have a mobile phone, have access to the internet, and have gone to college, needless to say that the world has, once again not kept its promises and commitments and has missed its own deadline! So it is that in September 2000, 189 countries committed themselves to the Millennium Development Goals that still represent a common and strong commitment to eradicate both poverty and injustice worldwide and were meant to have been realised by 2015! These goals can only be met if all countries concerned are purposeful, intentional, deliberate and immediately begin to take collective and coordinated action.
You see, the colonisation of Africa was driven by a combination of greed, strategic interests, economic exploitation, political, nationalistic ambitions, racial prejudices, religious and cultural motivations and technological advancements. During this time, an economic depression was occurring in Europe and powerful countries such as Germany, France and Great Britain, were losing money. The era began in the 15th century, when Portugal and Spain started establishing trade outposts and military bases outside of Europe.
Starting in the 1880s, in what became known as the 'Scramble for Africa,' European countries raced to occupy the continent, seeking economic and strategic gains. Britain established control over many parts of Africa, including Sudan and much of the south. And recent archaeological work places the presence of Africans in Southern Africa from the Niger River Delta, as early as the 3rd century CE. The ancestors of the amaZulu nation migrated from west Africa into south-eastern Africa during the African peoples' migrations from 2000 BC until the 15th century. This amaZulu nation expanded into a powerful kingdom, subdued surrounding nations and settled in the modern-day KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
With this, came the Slavery and Forced Labour Model brought by the Dutch and subsequently exported from the Western Cape to the Afrikaner Republics of the Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. The cornerstone of which was the intentional environmental degradation, economic underdevelopment, systemic racism with its attendant racial profiling and poor social infrastructure that then manifested in unequal access to healthcare, education and social justice. As forced labour continues to affect people worldwide, emerging datasets offer critical insights into its scope and impact.
South African apartheid was characterised by, among others, settler colonialism and the forced displacement of the indigenous population; the division of the colonised into different nations now demoted to mere 'groups' with different rights, severe restrictions on movement and violent suppression of resistance. It caused a great deal of change and the vast majority of that change was meant to be not good for Africans as a group — hence the continued assassination of genuine, revolutionary and selfless African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Thomas Sankara, Samora Machel, Steve Bantu Biko and Chris Hani. For that reason, Africans, like other people around the world who found themselves under foreign rule, found ways to resist. Some few notable ones being, Makhanda/Makana/ Nxele, a traditional doctor who served as a top advisor to Chief Ndlambe, who initiated an assault on the then Grahamstown during the Frontier Wars, on 22 April 1819; Abushiri in the 1888 Maji-Maji Rebellion (Aufstand) defended Tanganyika in East Africa against the Germans who had taken over the best land, stole their cattle and then forced the indigenous population to work and grow cotton for export; Germany formally colonised South West Africa (GSWA), now Namibia, in 1884 and forced the Herero, the Nama, the Damara, the San and the Ovambo people into slavery in their own land; Chief Bambatha kaMancinza, leader of the Zondi clan of the amaZulu people, who lived in the Mpanza Valley, a district near Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal led the 1860 – 1906 Bambatha Rebellion, using the Nkandla Forest as a base, against British rule and forced taxation; Samori Ture of Mandika State who created the Wassoulou Empire in the 1895 Battle of Adwa against Europeans rushing to claim African colonies across the continent — in north-east Africa, the Italians saw an opportunity to conquer the vast, fertile territory of Ethiopia to use as a place to resettle poor, landless Italians; The 1952 – 1960 Mau Mau rebellion/Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony that lasted 1920 – 1963 and the 1976 student uprising and general strikes that dramatically focused attention on the growing mass struggles against the apartheid state. These struggles took an increasingly anti-capitalist form and were supplemented by a slowly escalating guerilla war waged by the military wings in the main, of the then banned African National Congress (ANC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and Azanian People's Organisation.
I am a South African and the story of my country's connection with the world takes us back far beyond the founding of the first White settlement by Netherland's Jan van Riebeeck when, on that fateful day of the 6 April 1652, the first three ships landed in the Cape — the Drommedaris, the Reijger and the Goede Hoop! This was more than a hundred years before even the well-publicised voyage of Bartholomew Diaz!
There are two incontrovertible notions that never change, the first is that 'facts you cannot deny and the second is that truth you can apply'! In September 1978, in the midst of the worst recession in the country's history, a new South African prime minister PW Botha came into office, claiming that the state confronted a 'total onslaught'. Since becoming free on the 27 April 1994, it is fair to attest that 'the great problem for South Africa is rampant greed …. is essentially a problem for the once glorious African National Congress that has morphed into an organised crime syndicate, primarily because for a solid 30 years of our democracy, they held the absolute majority power in everything that matters'.
Since then, South Africa has become the only African country that became free from colonialism, that failed to substantially increase the education level of its people, dramatically increase the ownership of the economy by the indigenous population to, at least double digits, and the very first to hand over power back to its colonisers and oppressors after only 30 years in absolute power! The ANC chose to be in a coalition government with the Democratic Alliance (DA), a party that has no demonstrable track record of cooperating with anyone, that disagrees with, among others, Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), Universal, Equitable and Quality Access to healthcare (NHI) and the BELA Act — purportedly due to primarily language and admission policy.
This is the party that believes that the legacy of colonialism was not only negative, that the ANC cannot bring a functional democracy to South Africa and is, therefore committed to the fact that 'the ANC has to come apart' for it to accomplish its own liberal mission. This was laid bare for all to witness during the proposed 2% VAT increase in the budget. Even though the 'Government of National Unity' has made some progress in formerly moribund and inefficient departments (Basic Education, Public Works and Home Affairs) now being run by DA ministers other than inappropriately deployed ANC cadres and is dominated by the DA and its record is one of mostly failures, the Budget 2025 has demonstrated that, not only is this the very first to be voted on three times in 115 years that South Africa has existed as unitary state, but that it is the the DA that precipitated this crisis with its brinkmanship and clumsy attempts at being the opposition inside government by, among others, to score political points by blackmailing the ANC! It attempted to extract concessions on matters (Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, Land Expropriation Without Compensation Act and National Health Insurance Act) totally unrelated to the Budget. The very seed of life is now running the risk of rotting in the soil!
Nonetheless, we remain hopeful that the forces of social justice, transformation and democracy will prevail, precisely because we all thirst to feel part of something bigger. This is a universal moral law written on the human heart and sets out clearly the ultimate vocation of each person to help humanity gain a sharper insight into its full destiny — so that it can fashion the world more to humanity's surpassing dignity, search for a sisterhood/brotherhood which is universal and more deeply rooted and meet the urgencies of our age with a gallant and unified effort born of love!
Human dignity of the 'human person as a whole' is a unique and sacred value that is present in each individual without exception. All people are equal in dignity but unfortunately, in reality, many risk losing this dignity when faced with inhumane living conditions. Humane globalisation needs to ensure that all human beings can live a life in dignity and can participate fully to attain a globalisation of solidarity and spirituality. Each person is a unique part of the totality of creation and of the mosaic that is the human family. Each person is further related to other persons and bonded to each other and one another as the human community. Interpersonal relationships therefore, cannot be expressed in material and measurable ways — we must measure what genuinely matters. It is these relationships which make a person more humane.
This is underscored by the need for more open intercultural engagement and deep, meaningful and respectful dialogue. This presupposes the ability for deep introspection, self reflection and self correction based on hindsight, insight and foresight that no culture, nor tradition, nor religion, has an exclusive claim on ownership of the total and only truth! Only then can we constructively and collectively search together for the best insights and ways to take the right decision and DO the right thing with regard to universal basic values. And to bring together our collective strengths to attain the greater good and the common purpose which surpasses all narrow economic, cultural, social, political and religious interests — bonds strengthened and alliances forged.
Of the 1.2 million students enrolled at South Africa's 21 public universities and universities of technology in 2024, some 76.4% of these students are African — representing 5.5% of Africans aged 18 to 29 years, while 11.4% are White; 6.5% are Coloured and 5.7% are Indian/Asian. University places accommodate fewer than 50% of those completing matric with a certificate which makes them eligible for further study. Our graduation rates are very low, averaging only 17% across higher education institutions and 14.5% at PhD level. According to Statistics South Africa's (StatsSA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate, using the narrow definition, for university graduates between the ages of 15 and 34 was an astounding 33.6% in the first quarter of 2023. This suggests that about one in three of these age group's university graduates are having trouble finding work. The face of unemployment according to the 2022 National Human Development report is young, Black females as women continue to shoulder a disproportionate burden of unemployment, underemployment and lower workforce participation compared to men.
We have struggled for years with low economic growth and high unemployment. The official unemployment rate was 33.5% in April-June of 2024. During that period, the unemployment rate was 37.6% among Black South Africans and 7.9% among White South Africans, according to StatsSA. The higher education system is still developing its understanding of both graduate and post graduate unemployment. Even though social partners — business, labour, government, professional associations and civil society — have worked together to make some progress, there is still much more that needs to be done to close the skills gap that graduates and post-graduates face in the job market. To further improve graduate employability and lower unemployment rates, institutions of higher learning can develop curricula in conjunction with business as continued dedication and creativity are required by all social partners. We will make great strides toward improving the conditions that enable graduates to enter the labour market and contribute to the socioeconomic growth of their country if we all collaborate and work internationally, diligently and cooperatively.
I am absolutely privileged to be a part, albeit it small, of an entire education ecosystem that seeks to reassert the role of the university as the leading radical institution in social, economic and intellectual development to, among others, create an inclusive academic excellence and national relevance; develop a social justice approach to higher education, where universities propel democratic engagement; advocate for contextual academic freedom — the university's only birthright — which nurtures success of the higher education system through assessments of different perspectives; conceptualise ethical frameworks that will guide societal engagement and governance; promote public ownership of higher education institutions, where the public recognise their role as both beneficiaries and stakeholders in the accomplishments of universities and advocate for the financial sustainability of universities and for the development of long term sustainable models of student funding.
We must leverage the right synergies among intellectual credibility, innovative curricula and a good mix of globalisation; dedication to quality, contribute to the creation, sharing and evaluation of knowledge in the pursuit of academic scholarship and intellectual inquiry in all fields of human understanding, through rigorous research, learning and teaching; facilitate the imaginative acquisition of knowledge that acts as powerful bridges between knowledge system and the cultural, social, political and economic spheres and use community engagement as tools to contribute to society like in courageous implementation of an employability strategy — consisting largely of organisations and official institutions which are active in the care, welfare and service sectors and operate on the basis of mostly state subsidies and state regulation — situated somewhere between the individual citizen and the state and have to deal both with politics and with the economy — promoting citizens active participation and contributing to humanity – managing the tension between self interest and the general interest — values driven and acting ethically to realise collective goals that meet the basic needs of many.
It bears emphasis that values obtain their specific meaning only against the background of a well defined and articulated view of humanity, which consciously or subconsciously colours the way one looks at human actions and human dignity — a view that puts emphasis on the notion of 'person in community' — that which is human and desirable in all its dimensions and relations to achieve the best that is humanely possible — a complete human being!
Only through sustained ethical reflection on one's own functioning both as a collective and as an individual in society, both as an organisation and as a responsible individual within an organisation, can one prevent the exertion of power from only being directed at the strengthening of one's own position. It is seldom the case that only something good is brought. Mostly the choice is between a lesser evil and a greater evil. So universities that seek to take a critical look at the way they function can do this, for example, by asking themselves four exploratory questions, namely, what is the national economic strategy; what is the target group; what goals does the university wish to achieve and what means should be employed to realise these goals. It is a commitment to ourselves. Ultimately answering to whom one is finally accountable because safety and quality are the truth the same way that humanity (is not a given) like hate is a choice!
Professor Bonang Mohale is the chancellor of the University of the Free State.