To understand the season of a Paul Mashatile-generation ANC presidency, essentially an act of post-liberation alchemy, we must first understand the world that summoned this generation into existence. At its birth, this generation was born to parents at the crucible of human change. They are the babies who boomed for the parenting generation to be called baby boomers. The babies that boomed include Patrice Motsepe, Gwen Ramokgopa, Nomvula Mokonyane, Thoko Didiza, Dickson Masemola, Zweli Mkhize, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, Pitso Mosimane, Lesetja Kganyago, and several others.
Our
parents, a demographic born in the aftermath or in the middle of the Second
World War, were of a different breed. They were profoundly idealistic, somewhat
differently educated, and had an affluence that disrespected any chauvinism,
whence the Freedom Charter and the conceptualisation of the National Democratic
Revolution were born with our generation. To our parents, being a family was
central. With or without support and resources, they established us within a
tapestry of family units in the socially engineered dysfunction that defined
our upbringing.
The
calls for Freedom in Our Lifetime could only have meant that our adolescence as
booming babies would be the decisive energy to catalyse such a Freedom. Our
dinner table discussions were characterised by subtle resolves to deal with
'amabhunu' as we witnessed the dehumanisation of our fathers in long queues for
dompas checks. We knew what a Saturday journey to Pretoria Central with your
parents could end with you coming home without your father, simply because he
had forgotten his dompas in the pocket of another pair of trousers.
In
apartheid South Africa, the experiences our fathering generation went through
could only have hardened our resolve to right the injustices that emasculated
the family as a basic unit. The more our fathers wanted, the more basic those
who denied it to them were. It was a world of surviving your urges against the
reality of what the system allowed them to be.
Being
our parents was a mindset in several ways. In the world, they were in the
middle of the winds of change across all human endeavour. Human Rights, as a
buzzing concept, was making demands for practical implementation. Marxism, as a
political ideology, was demanding that democracies test themselves. Several other
isms were looking for brains to nurture or complicate. Colonialism was
redefining itself into its softer version, foreign direct investment and
structural adjustments.
In
politics, this generation was born when wars could be cold yet fiercely fought
in places where life was not respected. It was a time when the legitimacy of
those governing was defined in terms of race, social class, and the capacity to
administer violence on the dominated. Those who understood the true meaning of
justice and injustice were incarcerated or forced into exile. Otherwise, when
outside, they were subjected to being boys and girls of their age-mates, simply
because they are of a different pigmentation.
To
this generation, the banned ANC in exile saw young lions whose life experiences
under apartheid were a source of energy that needed to be channelled towards
making human emancipation a reality in South Africa. As apartheid faced a
crisis of legitimacy and was declared a crime against humanity, this generation
became the bedrock for the idea of Freedom in our lifetime.
Born
between 1960 and 1970, this generation is either reshaping the politics,
economics, and socioeconomic realities of South Africa or further undermining
them. They are in a fierce contest to politically prevail in a society that has
emboldened the dream of apartheid returning.
Just
thinking inside the other bigger box with transparent walls.
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