Drinking from the half-glass: full or empty?

A critical thinking friend called St. Pee was telling me that the Million Man March (MMM) is a set up to create a buffer between the real culprits behind crime in the country and the rising anger of the ordinary citizens.

“Desmond Dube should stick to what he knows best,” he said sipping his cocktail at a township shebeen in Soweto. “He is a comedian and that says a lot about his understanding of politics.”

Well, of course, no one can under-estimate how violent crime deeply affects the majority of citizens in this country. They have a right to be angry. But St Pee was pissed and not at all pleased with Dube. He is the sort of fellow who loves the townships and refuses to buy a house in white suburbia. In fact, he believes he is safer in the townships than he would be in the previous whites-only suburbs where Dube lives and now has a reason to be afraid.

Of course, when I am among the soul of black folks, I do a lot of listening like a tourist. You see, St Pee lives this shit every day of his life. He must be intuitively connected to the township spirit to know what they are talking about.

The MMM has been center stage for the last five months following the fatal shooting of former township super-achiever, Shimmy Mofokeng, in an upmarket suburb in Alberton. He had just closed his shop in Soweto only to be shot in a previous whites only suburb where it should have been safer. Or so many of us have been misled to think.

Anyway, St Pee went on to explain how the whole crime issue offers the half-empty and half-full perspective of how black and whites see things in the country. He argued that pointing fingers at the “black government” (sic) for its failure to stop crime in this country is shifting blame from the culprits who are the privileged class who own and control the economy.

“Crime is a disturbing feature in this country and will continue to be,” he continued, taking another sip from his bottle of beer. This guy mixes beer with spirits. “Dube can be a hero for a day for misleading some people to blame the government for what is going wrong with the rate of crime. But he must tell us who creates the conditions that drive people into crime? This has a lot to do with the skewed economic system that has far too few people owning and controlling the wealth of this country.”

He expressed disappointment at Dube — who is somewhat a township role model who has lifted himself up by his bootstraps — for allowing himself to be used by “rightwing forces” who want to make the false claim that the government is not addressing issues of crime.

“I have no doubt that Charles Ngqakula is committed to fighting crime in this country,” continued St Pee. At this stage I felt I needed to ask a question for clarity. St Pee needs to explain why he thinks Dube and his MMM have no business to express how they feel about alleged lack of delivery.

But he was clear that he does not think that the public display of disapproval and dissatisfaction with what government is against the law. He just insisted that what is unforgivable is that the blame is being laid at the wrong door.

“The greatest menace to the social order is not government’s lack of delivery, but those people who own and control the wealth of this country,” St Pee insists. “We are being lied to, here. Blacks were given political power to be the buffer between the oppressed and those who own and control the wealth. Follow the money, my friend.”

He winked at me and seemed very happy with his brand of political commentary.

Well, I had come out to the townships not only to reconnect with my friends and brothers on the ground, but to delve deep into issues that confront this beautiful country that no man can yet enjoy. There is far too much violent crime.

Of course, discussing crime and who is truly responsible for it is not a political crime yet. This is freedom of expression. So, it is interesting that a Wits graduate will stay in the township and examine serious issues about what is going on in this country.

What St Pee examined is a fundamental question: Is the guilt for rate of crime exclusively that of government? Or is it a natural development to a new stage of struggle for just redistribution of the resources of the country?

Well, I felt I needed to leave before it gets too dark. I have lived in the townships all my life but I still prefer to be at my home before it gets too dangerous, with streets full of drivers with bellies full of the beer and whisky cocktails. It was, indeed, a wonderful afternoon of looking deep into the bottle which was half empty by the time I left.

But St Pee is no fool you see. He is a voracious reader who thinks deeply and can paraphrase some of the world’s best philosophers. I remember him mentioning Victor Hugo and citing the following quotation: “If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”

As I was getting into my car St Pee was letting me off easily. “My brother, business leadership and ownership has caused this darkness. Yes, many of the criminals are blacks. It is regrettable. But they are born of a greater crime of inequality,” insisted St Pee.

He was not pissing me off. But I had to leave. Perhaps when a man is drunk, he speaks what is on his mind. I do not necessarily agree with St Pee. But it is always enlightening to spend an afternoon in the township. You learn things from Wits super graduates who are not afraid to speak their own truth. Feel free to disagree with them.

Before I left I asked how he thinks Dube would do as a politician.
“He will bring light relief. We need our own Chris Rock,” he said. “But he must not piss us off.”

That is the soul of township folks, for you. Love them and leave them, these beautiful, peace loving people.