• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
South Africans focus on food, not gifts
South Africans will spend more on food and drink and less on gifts this festive season, accordingto Deloitte's year-end holiday survey released today.
Search
FEEDS|
HOME NEWS SPORT BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIFE & STYLE SCI-TECHOPINIONBLOGS MULTIMEDIA
COLUMNISTSEDITORIALS YOUR OPINION JOBS|ENTER JOB CODE ARTICLE 171 COMMENTS BOTTOM EMAIL SHARE PRINT
Culture no excuse for cruelty 
How soon before we start burning witches again?
Dec 6, 2009 10:22 PM | By Justice Malala
Justice Malala:
The bull is now dead. In the aftermath of the noise and theanger in the week prior to his slaughter, I wish to speak for the dead bull. Mostimportantly, though, I wish to speak for a sad, disintegrating and swiftly disappearing ANC.
POPULAR
Loading...
OPINION
 Actors gun for Jennifer Hudson
Tiger Woods Drama
 –
Six over parCormac McCarthy
’
s Typewriter Sold for RidiculousAmount of MoneyTutu calls on Zuma to dump Simelane
 –
full textPetina Gappah
 –
Short StoryNew Alfa Giulietta to replace 147Addidas hopes to cash in on 2010Reports about drug sydicates can make the Englishmore paranoidMonday Morning Podcast
 –
Rian Malan on ResidentAlienBlake Lively takes a swing @
‘
Tiger
’
on SNL
MORE BLOGS 
SPONSORED LINKS
24 HOURS
LAST WEEKMOST COMMENTED
BLOGS
COLUMNISTS
THE bull is now dead. In the aftermath of the noiseand the anger in the week prior to his slaughter, Iwish to speak for the dead bull. Most importantly,though, I wish to speak for a sad, disintegrating andswiftly disappearing ANC.On Saturday in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal, PresidentJacob Zuma and Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini led theUkweshwama ritual in which young men killed a bullwith their bare hands. The killing of the bull was tocelebrate the first fruits of the harvest. The strength ofthe dying bull, it is believed, would be transferred tothe king.The problem with the debate, if one can call theinsults that were hurled after the organisation AnimalRights for Africa brought a court application to havethe ceremony stopped because it believed the killingof the bull was cruel, is that it is framed incorrectly.By Friday, the noise that persisted was about blackversus white, European versus African, colonialistversus "freedom fighter".In truth, the debate should be about what is right andwrong in a new and liberated South Africa. It is aboutwhat carves a path for us into the future as a nation.Firstly, the bull should not be killed in such a manner.The pummelling with fists until an animal dies cannot but be cruel and painful. None of us should stand forcruelty meted out in the name of culture. Or because the Spanish also kill their bulls cruelly. I do notmeasure myself by the lowest standards, but by the highest.The argument put forward was that this bull must suffer because my ancestors made animals suffer. Theargument is, with all due respect, stupid: my ancestors had not read the work of JM Coetzee and were not onFacebook. I know that I know more than they did, and that my practices must of necessity differ with theirs.What is surprising is to see the ANC, the party of progress for 98 years in South Africa, falling into thebackwardness of support for superstition and cruelty to animals in the name of culture and tradition."The slaughtering of cattle carries a particular significance in African culture, as it does in many othercountries in the world," wrote Zizi Kodwa, Zuma's spokesman in the ANC.
The ruling party is gripped by low-level decision-making
RELATED MULTIMEDIA
VIDEO
 The bull ceremony
VIDEO
 Bull killing to go ahead
SUNDAY TIMES THE TIMES PARTNERS QUICKLINKS SIGN UP SIGN IN SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PAPERS
http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article222462.ece Page 1 / 4
 
OTHER ARTICLES IN 'COLUMNISTS'
l
Culture no excuse for cruelty
l
Best taker of notes you ever did see
l
Lessons we learn with a little listening
l
This is a bargain for 2010
l
Much ado about nought
l
Waiting for the barbarians
l
No time for second thoughts here
l
Racist attacks no substitute for considered debate
l
The art of letting go
l
True love means talking the talk
Loading...
 
ARTICLE 171 COMMENTS EMAIL SHARE PRINT BACK TO TOP
Sign in
or 
Sign up
to comment
 
COMMENTS
Dec 7 2009 12:24:10 AM
 
Tackler
 That beast took 20 minutes to die. That's worse than those despicable Spanish bullfighters.Disgusting! That's not "culture", I'm sorry. That's savagery. It's anti-culture. Anyone defendingsuch horror is a dumb brute.
REPORT ABUSE
Dec 7 2009 02:19:03 AM
 
StarGazer-KnowledgeSeeker
 
"The disrespect and contempt for African culture and traditions demonstrated by the debate that continues toensue in our public discourse demonstrates the utter hypocrisy of those who have anointed themselvesvoices of reason. This is reminiscent of the arrival of the European settlers on our shores who declared thatour people were barbaric heathens who needed to be civilised."Kodwa is ignoring a crucial point: is the practice itself cruel or not? Does the fact that we have practised it forso long make it right? Why not kill this bull swiftly?At the conference of the precursor to the ANC Youth League, the SA Youth Congress, in KaNyamazane in1990, one matter obsessed the delegates.Clause 10 of the Aims and Objectives of the draft Constitution proclaimed that one of the goals of theorganisation's members was to "fight all forms of superstition".The delegates from Polokwane had a problem with this clause. In their view "witchcraft existed" and they had"every right to burn alleged witches", as indeed many were doing.Many of the other delegates pointed out that in fact, viewed scientifically, no such thing as witchcraft couldpossibly exist.The ANC of today seems to be travelling backwards to beliefs in superstition, such as witchcraft. It is an ANCin denial of progress, in denial of the science that leaders such as Blade Nzimande claim to follow in terms ofMarxist-Leninist writings.This is the ANC that Kader Asmal correctly pointed out is gripped by "low level decision-making".This is the debate that should be raging inside the ANC itself. The question asked should be: what does theANC want?Does it want to take over where the cultural chauvinism of the Inkatha Freedom Party left off, or does it wantto be the party of Pixley ka Seme - discarding the incoherent in our cultures and embracing the progressive?Clearly for Zuma, who has morphed into a latter-day Zulu monarchist modelled on the Mangosuthu Butheleziof the 1980s, the answer is only one. He is taking the ANC back to beliefs such as those shown outside histrial in Pietermaritzburg: the burning of incense for luck, the killing of bulls to strengthen kings - and whatelse? The burning of witches?I have spoken for the bull. I mourn for an ANC that has abandoned science for superstition.
> Read more columnists 
http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article222462.ece Page 2 / 4
 
Walususake uthuthuva mfo ka Malala, We await the responses :-)The anc is self-destructing you say?....I wait in bated breath indeed......
REPORT ABUSE
Dec 7 2009 04:09:57 AM
 
iklwa
 Why do u think we voted the guy for,to sipp 18year olds in mohogany corners while makingsense of yeats,no no we need him to be himself.as for the bull,its our fault to divulge suchinfo.mfowethu nguwe lo!!!!
REPORT ABUSE
Dec 7 2009 05:04:40 AM
 
CharlesDarwin
 Thank heavens for sanity. Justice, you are a pleasure to read.Thzmn, you have just proven Justice to be correct. While his article is filled with reason andargument, yours is filled only with insult. You see, what you have not grasped is that the ANCis disintegrating because its once core values are being abandoned. Perhaps there will bean organization called the ANC in 5 years time, but it will not be the ANC of Mbeki the elder,Sisulu, Mandela, and the other great and progressive leaders. It will be an ANC of corruption,superstition, and witchcraft -- in other words a different organization with the same name. But Idon't really expect you to understand this point. Carry on with your insults, they simply confirmwhat Justice as demonstrated.
REPORT ABUSE
Dec 7 2009 05:20:29 AM
 
MissB
 i'm proudly African and i embrace my culture wherever possible. but you're right Justice,culture cannot be practiced blindly. this was not about black or white it was about right andwrong. it's sad that there is no leadership on such issues!
REPORT ABUSE
Dec 7 2009 05:31:17 AM
 
Truth still
 Thank you Justice for clear and reasoned arguments. Not the childish sloganeering ofThzmn.I disagree with some of your columns but at least you offer another reasoned view ofthe topic. Culture is never static, it cannot be as people change. Culture becomes dangerouswhen politicians try to own it, Look to the NAZI's, the Nationalist Party and now this move bythe ANC. Dark days are ahead unless the majority of South Africans take back theirdemocracy but I have very little hope for that. The ZANUfication of South Africa continues
REPORT ABUSE
Dec 7 2009 06:21:24 AM
 
enie
 thzmnfunny how you ridicule others, while at the same time open yourself for same just within yourown writing.remember to breath.
REPORT ABUSE
Dec 7 2009 06:33:13 AM
 
DDarko
 Another small piece of the ANC died with the bull. And every time another person dies as aresult of poor ANC policies, the ANC dies slowly.Soon in the area of the greatest Zulu culture, there will be no people who are not sick. As KZNdepopulates so we will cleansed of this abominable thing called Zulu culture.So PLEASE keep practicing this Zulu culture!The day we wake up to no Zulu culture will be happy day indeed, we declare a holiday and callit BULL'S day.
REPORT ABUSE
Dec 7 2009 06:44:11 AM
 
http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article222462.ece Page 3 / 4
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...