FreeRiddim | The South African uber Poetry, Arts & Culture Magazine

Column: The Man Who Knows Nothing | Written by Lukhanyiso Tena, South Africa

Old News
LUKHANYISO TENA, SOUTH AFRICA.

>>The work of wise western philosopher Karl Marx once suggested that there is no such thing as new news.

>>New news is old news to new people. This literally means that everything that occurs on earth has already received the sun's baking kiss before. But like redone motion pictures, its the same script with different actors. And at times the body of the story might be altered to suit the particular people and the times. Although he might not know the philosophy, my father and many other of the older generation are firm believers of it, but only when it suits them.

>>How you ask? Well many of our folks will be perplexed at our absorption and admiration of western sub cultures and ideals, when the trend has been prevailing ever since our fairer skin brethren washed up on our shores. They will question our admiration of the Kanye West’s of this world forgetting how their love for the Aretha Franklins of their world is as identical.

>>If this school of thought is accurate, it means that the earth is predictable and maybe soulless. And it also assumes that fortune tellers and prophets are nothing but good analysts of human nature.
But is the earth predictable? Don't we know that after the night the sun will rise again? Don't we know that good eventually overcomes evil? Aren’t we aware that whatever you sow you will inevitably reap?
You cannot plant an apple seed and expect a banana tree to grow from it. But the world is not that simple. It is not just black and white. Between the black and white lies a grey area that holds the potential of improbability.

"If this school of thought is accurate, it means that the earth is predictable and maybe soulless. And it also assumes that fortune tellers and prophets are nothing but good analysts of human nature"

>>Let’s make a "hypothetical" example of our beautiful land on the southern tip of Azania. On the 22nd of April millions of South Africans lined up to make the quad annual decision of who will lead them in the next 4 years. These were the most important elections since the first one in 1994. In the elections before making that mark was not too hard a decision for me and many black brethren and sistren. But in the past four years the most talked about criminal cases where those of corruption. This corruption being the cancer that has poisoned the government from councillor to president. But for me it was not a hard election because of the surfaced corruption scandals but it was also of what political history in Africa has taught us about constant discharge of power to the same people. And for an example of a bad case scenario of how this can turn out we only have to look over our borders to Zimbabwe, our once flourishing neighbour.

>>But South Africa's journey to freedom is special. You can't compare it to any other country and this is because our cultural diversity and how we are slowly integrating like coffee and milk. The country has changed since 1994 and those, as Tumi from Tumi and the Volume, who "couldn't take the change like broken pay phones" left. Although we may find that our growth is not great as it should be but its a growth non the less. Maybe we won't even turn out like our fellow African states, maybe we are as former president put it " alive with possibility". For what is happening in our country has occurred before. South Africa , although it was then a non-democratic regime, has had her president forced to resign before he finished his term in office just like Mr. Mbeki (P.W Botha), she has had an ANC 2 thirds majority rule(funny to note that only 2 thirds of R.S.A is employed) and she has also had corrupt government officials just like any country or state does. So maybe we aren't doing that bad. Many will tell you that behind every powerful man is an equally powerful woman, our newly appointed man in office has more than one by his side.

>> Imagine the muscle he is packing. Or maybe we are doing bad for as Karl Marx put it, "History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, then as a farce”.

But what do I know, I'm just a man that knows nothing.

--
© Lukhanyiso Tena for FreeRiddim