South Africa and its covenant of lawlessness

September 17, 2019January 15, 2021 admin

The king of a country, in a democracy such as South Africa represented by its president, is a reflection of the will and the psyche of its people. The king is therefore both the representative figure and the embodiment of the moral fibre of the society of the country. The king thus reflects society’s morality back to the people, asking them: Do you concur with what you see? Because what you see is how and who you are.

This is so since the king is the principal figure of authority of the largest party in the country, and he, being elected following due process, establishes and reinforces that authority – legally enforced by contract. Not only has he been elected in a legitimate manner, but also has he been anointed and reconfirmed as king several times since his election as leader of the party in December 2007[1] and ascending to the role of king of the country in April 2009[2]. He has been re-elected leader of the party in 2012[3] and over the past eight years since 2009 has survived no fewer than nine[4] votes of no confidence. Through its leaders, members of society had various opportunities to state that they do not like what they see, but opting not to oust him, society is implying that he is not only a good reflection, by and large, of the country’s moral fibre in general, but that society also likes what it sees: it concurs with and ratifies the reflection.

The current turmoil surrounding the king and his associates and advisors[5] therefore has to be seen in a far bigger context than just that pertaining to the king. We’re a society that is in turmoil, constantly reshuffling itself. We’re a society gone corrupt[6]. Why?

His election as king was surrounded by controversy – he was clouded by a sea of allegations of corruption before being elected[7], allegations that are still haunting him today, but now compounded by many more and even more serious ones[8]. He was therefore elected king by the legitimate ruling party despite being accused of several accounts of serious lawlessness and misconduct, and kept in power over a prolonged period of time despite several opportunities to release him of his duties and position – and thus we as members of society have decoupled ourselves from what we see. This implies that it is the will of the majority of the people that a person accused of the most serious transgressions of the law, and that repeatedly, be their king. Being implicated in lawlessness on several accounts and through several means has therefore become a non-issue. Hiding cowardly behind a wall of power, and being allowed to do so by the leaders of society, enshrines the fact that allegations, and seemingly irrefutable proof, of lawlessness, are a non-issue.

He thus becomes the king of lawlessness: one who embraces it and also the protector of it, and that by the will and thus on the authority of the people who have put and are keeping him in power.

From his throne there will therefore flow lawlessness. Yet, lawlessness by definition only stimulates more and more of the same. Lawlessness, which is the rising up against respect of the law, will never be far removed from rebellion. This we’ve seen. The king’s biggest supporter in 2007 rebelled against him by forming his own party. The leading party is in disarray[9] and seriously divided with internal rebellion and confusion, with the coalition and its partners also in tatters to boot[10]. Lawlessness thrives on lawlessness; rebellion against the law breeds further rebellion, biting the very hand it used to work with. Invariably lawlessness, through its own seed of rebellion, will lead to self-destruction, but at what cost?

Upon his initial victory in 2007, as well as that of him becoming king in 2009 and his confirmation as king at Mangaung in 2012[11], the king slaughtered cattle at his homestead and elsewhere to appease his ancestors[12]. These slaughterings, while reported on widely in the media as being part of the king’s culture and a means of celebration and communication with the ancestors, are a further means to an end. It is an age-old process by which an oath is made and a covenant confirmed. Through this ritual slaughtering, the king both makes and confirms covenants with his spiritual masters. He does so in person from his palace, but, being the king, he ropes in the entire nation. From his legitimate throne he exercises his legitimate power enveloping society under the banner of his covenant/s.

This is a very, very serious matter.

He, having the greatest disrespect of the sanctity of the law, and this disrespect repeatedly being endorsed and thus authorised by the people of the country, has tied the country to a covenant of lawlessness.

Is it therefore a surprise to see that lawlessness on the roads, in the schools, in every sphere of life is escalating? Is it a surprise to witness the booming of corruption, state capture, money laundering, etc.? Is it a surprise to see the scant regard for animal life approaching unprecedented levels[13]? Is it a surprise to see unprecedented levels of disregard towards human life, be it through murder, rape or the senseless abuse of a fellow citizen?

Life, of all people, should be sacrosanct. It is protected by the law.

Within the context of lawlessness, however, life is no longer protected. It is no longer sacrosanct. The sacredness of life has been traded away, thus opening the floodgates of evil, and with it the flow of blood, pain, social disorder, rebellion, and chaos. There is no mercy within this form of lawlessness as it resembles psychopathic behaviour[14].

The question is how to respond. Fire breeds fire, rebellion breeds rebellion, hate breeds hate. That is what lawlessness does – it is the keystone of its very definition. That is what psychopathic-like behaviour does. It does not care. It is fearless. It is irresponsible. It is short-sighted. It is hot-tempered.

It is attributed to Albert Einstein that he once said: no problem can be solved within the same mind-set that created the problem in the first instance. The wisdom in this statement is profound, leading us to conclude:

one cannot stop and reverse the flood of lawlessness through lawlessness;
one cannot stop and reverse the flood of rebellion through rebellion;
one cannot stop and reverse the flood of murders, irrespective race, either by word or by deed, by murdering others – be it either verbally or physically;
one cannot stop and reverse the flood of disrespect for others through further disrespect and abuse;
one cannot stop and reverse race-based problems, with race-based policies and actions;
etc.

The country is at a cross-road[15]. The election of a new king is less than six weeks away and thus the hand-over of power to a new king, or will it be a queen? The current king, however, is compromised. This is a battle of covenantal proportions – it is a battle of the gods, the ancestors, and the spirits. Western-minded people do not understand it. It is not simple, and it is huge. Much is to be gained, and much is to be lost.

What the populace are witnessing currently are but the symptoms of the mushrooming of more and more lawless behaviour as the king has to protect himself and his covenants, retreating further into his billet, using all means possible and at all cost.

The people, however, should not give way to more lawlessness, be it the transgression of simple traffic rules, deception through irregular and unlawful tax returns, or, worse, the idolising of sport, celebrities, language, race and with it hate speech and the like, and violence, even murder. By following a conduct of civil disobedience one is not only strengthening the covenants and the hand of lawlessness and entrenching it further into the system, feeding it – so to speak. One is also compromising oneself. One man practising deliberate, wilful, lawlessness cannot speak up against another act of lawlessness. That would be hypocritical. By deliberately, knowingly and wilfully breaking the traffic rules and the tax law, for example, and ignoring the fact that a person is doing so, he disarms and emasculates himself from speaking up against other forms of lawlessness.

Hypocrisy is lawlessness and rebellion against oneself. There is no cure for that but to change, change that is not easy and that will require the utmost self-discipline, and the re-training of oneself by:

not showing partiality among peoples and races, but to answer such with care for all people;
not heeding to lawlessness, but to answer such by abiding to the law;
not acting disrespectfully, but to answer such with respect;
not acting hatefully, but answer such with life; and
not shifting the blame, but to take responsibility.

Change, turn and embrace the rule of law. Embrace and respect life; that renders lawlessness powerless.

PS: This piece has been written on 30 October, also called black Monday as people wore black in solidarity against the senseless killing of farmers. Today I wore a plain white shirt. ALL murders, irrespective of race, language, or religion, are wrong. ALL murders are acts of lawlessness. ALL murders are cowardly and nonsensical acts of brutal undiluted evil. I bemoan the unnecessary loss of life of each and every citizen of this country through an act of lawlessness. I also bemoan the fact that the tragic deaths of farmers, farmers who feed the nation with life-giving food, have led and are still leading to further lawlessness, further idolatry through race-based actions – fuelling the fire of lawlessness.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52nd_National_Conference_of_the_African_National_Congress

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_general_election,_2009

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/53rd_National_Conference_of_the_African_National_Congress

[4] https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/the-president-has-now-survived-nine-no-confidence-votes/

[5] https://www.scribd.com/document/329757135/State-Capture-Report-2016#from_embed

https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2017-10-17-zuma-announces-cabinet-reshuffle/

[6] http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/corrupt

[7] http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/jacob-zuma-presidency-2009-2017-march

[8] http://www.nb.co.za/Books/20140

[9] http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/it-was-a-festival-of-chairs-ramaphosa-on-violent-anc-elective-conference-20171001

[10] https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-06-06-analysis-winds-of-change-for-sacp-and-cosatu/#.WfdmhGiCw2w

[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/53rd_National_Conference_of_the_African_National_Congress