April has seen its fair share of anti-Zuma protests and marches‚ but one splinter group is not interested in Jacob Zuma at all – they want South Africa itself to fall and say the president’s power is irrelevant.
The group of 50 protesters — led by controversial pastor Xola Skosana who claims Jesus was HIV-positive — walked 11.5km from Gugulethu to Khayelitsha in Cape Town on Saturday to highlight townships’ existence as “breeding grounds for black pain”.
Carrying an enormous wooden cross‚ the group has called for an end to “the colonial construct” that is South Africa.
The group is against the flag‚ the anthem‚ the constitution‚ the electoral system and parliament.
Marchers said they were “breaking ranks” and were “not even engaging on the issue of whether Zuma must fall or not” when the real issue was for South Africa to fall.
They said the land issue was central‚ and any talk of “development” was simply hot air.
One of the protesters‚ Andreas Banetsi Mphunga who works in the mental health sector in townships‚ said: “It is part of white psychology that says‚ ‘if we put people together in one place‚ all hell will break loose’. Even social housing is built in those same areas‚ far away from all resources.”
He said that a Pan-Africanist psychology would have to prevail before Azania could be reached‚ and pointed out that Hendrik Verwoerd was a psychology professor who had used his expertise to suppress black South Africans.
“The answers might come from our own belief systems instead of white psychology‚” he said.
Another protester said Chinese interests in South Africa were a form of Asian imperialism‚ which was just as dangerous as white imperialism.
Another said that during apartheid‚ those in the liberation struggle knew who the enemy was. “But now‚ the enemy is assimilated and it is harder to know who is who when we are oppressed by the black bourgeoisie‚” he said.
