WHAT IS IN A NAME?

As the African continent slowly gained independence, we saw all the newly-formed countries renamed to rid themselves of their colonial slave names.

Southern African countries changed their names after independence, with Bechuanaland becoming Botswana, Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe and Nyasaland becoming Malawi. Before independence in 1990, Namibia was first known as German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika), then as South-West Africa, reflecting the German and South Africans’ colonial occupation. In 1891 the British-Portuguese treaty was signed, which set the boundaries of Portuguese East Africa, now called Mozambique. Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) was constituted as a native State under British protection by a treaty signed with the native Chief Moshoeshoe in 1843. At independence, the country reversed to its original African name Lesotho and its citizens are called a Mosotho (singular) or Basotho (plural).

Eswatini or Swaziland?

Julius Malema of the EFF said he disagreed with King Mswati III on many issues, but on the name change issue he was 100 per cent with him. As a Pan-Africanist, I feel embarrassed and ashamed when I see new progressive political parties choosing to use a colonial Zulu name. We all know that Swazi is, in fact, Zulu, not Swati language. In siSwati we say emaSwati not emaSwazi as the Zulus call us. As illustrated above, all our sister countries, Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia changed back to their African names after independence. Then a progressive friend explained to me why their movement is still using Swaziland instead of Eswatini. He said King Mswati III had no right to change the country’s name unilaterally without consulting the citizens. I actually got that and understood it. However, I still do not accept that we should continue with the colonial Zulu name Swaziland for that reason alone. It is like cutting your nose to spite your face.

Unfortunately, it has also revealed a deeper insight into our progressive intellect regarding their black consciousness as Africans. Secondly, it could also reflect, as in the case of South Africa, that colonial powers still have a very strong hold. They may feel certain sponsors and supporters might negatively perceive Africanism and stop funding. Whatever the case, emaSwati must be careful and guard against those who call for political liberation from their monarchy but are still mental slaves to colonial powers. We have seen political parties such as Frelimo, in Mozambique, fighting a brutal and cruel civil war against Renamo, where a million African lives were lost. Voting for the wrong political party costs an arm and a leg.  They did not embrace Africanism and the importance of ubuntu, choosing to fight a proxy war between America, for capitalism, and Russia, for communism. If we blindly take foreign political systems without blending them into our ways, we will remain mental slaves, doomed to constant manipulation and mental slavery.

People’s Republic of Azania (South Africa)

The political war for liberation in South Africa  (SA) and, to a large extent, Swaziland was won. However, the mental oppression remained embedded in the minds of the citizens of these two countries such that it has become challenging to achieve what Steve Biko terms Black Consciousness. In South Africa, it started back in April 1959, with the escalation of longstanding ideological tensions from a group of young Africanists who broke away from the ANC to form the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) under the leadership of the charismatic Robert Sobukwe.

The Africanist bloc had generally opposed to parts of the Freedom Charter and the broader Congress Alliance, feeling that the latter’s influence had steered the ANC away from the African nationalism asserted in the 1949 programme of action in favour of a new de facto policy of accommodating whites and liberals. The Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO), a South African liberation movement and political party, also advocated for the name change to Azania. Its inspiration was drawn from the Black Consciousness Movement-inspired philosophy developed by Biko, Harry Nengwekhulu, Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, Vuyelwa Mashalaba and others, as well as Marxist Scientific Socialism.

The Black Consciousness Movement’s policy of perpetually challenging the dialectic of Apartheid South Africa as a means of transforming black thought into rejecting prevailing opinion or mythology to attain a more extensive comprehension, brought it into direct conflict with the full force of the security apparatus of the apartheid regime. ‘Black man you are on your own’ became the rallying cry as mushrooming activity committees implemented what was to become a relentless campaign of a challenge to what was then referred to by the Black Consciousness Movement as ‘The System’. It eventually sparked a confrontation on June 16, 1976, in the Soweto uprising, when 176 people were killed, mainly by the South African security forces, as students marched to protest the use of the Afrikaans language in African schools. Biko died from injuries that resulted from a brutal assault while in the custody of the South African police.

Note carefully that both the PAC and AZAPO, who advocated for strong African nationalism, were totally crashed and are presently insignificant in the South African political space. When a young radical Malema and the ANC youth wing attempted to bring Pan-Africanism into the ANC, they we expelled. The post-independence name of South Africa is ‘The People’s Republic of Azania’. All was set for the name change to Azania, so the Chinese referred to South Africa as Azania. However, at the last-minute negotiations with former President Nelson Mandela and his team, the name change notion was dropped.

According to former South African Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa, the name ‘South Africa’ was merely a geographical reference. It should be done away with just like other colonial-era African names. The debate was hot during the election of President Jacob Zuma, who is also an Africanist but nothing came of it. The white community within South Africa could not get themselves to be called Azanians, which means black people from Southern Africa. They even planted into the minds of the black man that it is okay to call themselves by a destination, to the extent that some brainwashed black Africans criticised everything about the name change. Comment septembereswatini@gmail.com   

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: