The Shadows on the Wall.

Despite the numerous affirmations to the contrary, that I am indeed not living in a parallel world in which no means yes and yes means no; the horrible psychosis will not dissipate.

Living in South Africa today is like living in the Matrix. Everything seems real, but nothing is.  A pool is not a pool; it is in fact a Fire-pool. A better life for all is in fact not really a better life for all, but a better life for some, consultation is in fact not a conversation between two parties, it is a directive from the powerful to the powerless. And so it goes. “On and on, round and round, where it stops…nobody knows”, to borrow from the Steve Miller Band and their song Abracadabra. Indeed, if not magic, it must be the greatest show on earth.

We can either accept that these obvious contradictions are as in the “The Matrix”, a generated reality of malicious machines, and consequently that this then is Descartes' First Meditation, or evil demon, a hypothesis that the perceived world might be a comprehensive illusion created to deceive us or the contradictions are as Plato`s Allegory of the Caves, in which we only perceive the outlines of the shadows and never the true form.

If we are not living in an illusion, then the true form of our psychosis is revealed as a monstrous shadow, behind which lurks our greatest fear. Not as Mariane Willliamson once suggested, that we are “powerful beyond measure”, but rather that we are unthinking, compliant and as Immanuel Kant suggested,  we ourselves are our own agents of deceit.

But just as in the Matrix, every-so-often, and increasingly, the magicians, have to deal with those who wake from their dream-like state and openly choose to pursue truth. Humans are not easy to make content, or to deceive without end.

So when the Minister of Mineral Resources, who sells the “matrix program” of “consultation” to mining affected communities, has to confront this awakening, he inevitably confronts the ability of people to revive their freedom, even with the “machines” holding all the cards and having control of the system.

It is no surprise that the community of Steelpoort have rejected the unrealistic calls of the Minister to remain calm. It is no surprise that his arrogance, in proclaiming that he does not walk around with “jobs in his pocket”, was met with anger and determination.

To those who missed the story, The community of Steelpoort near Booysendal, which hosts a shallow and mechanised platinum mine, located about 35km from the town of Mashishing, which was formerly known as Lydenburg and straddles the border of Limpopo and Mpumalanga had been impacted as protesters blocked roads, disrupting transport, which had prevented employees getting to work and which has been occurring on and off for months. Protests around Steelpoort, on the eastern edge of the platinum belt broke out on Friday, with Ngoako Ramatlhodi, the Mineral Resources Minister, calling for calm on Monday. After a meeting with the community on Tuesday, the Minster was left with an empty hall as community members walked out on his arrogance.

This is not a new phenomenon, and should not come as a surprise to the Minister or Government. The community of Sekhukune in Limpopo and indeed, communities across South Africa, from Mpumalanga, to Kwazulu Natal and Northwest have been in a constant state of uprising for years.
But like the unyielding master, the Minister and government refuses to acknowledge that a crises exists and continues to hope, against all evidence to the contrary,  that like unthinking, compliant agents of their own deceit, that mining affected communities will yield their agency and freedom to the machine.

That spell has long been broken, and communities will no longer be fooled by Minsters who fly into mining affected communities in swanky suits, with trousers that do not hold “jobs in his pocket”.
The game is up; even if Government refuses to admit it.

Just two weeks ago, the Presidency once again refused to engage with mining affected communities through the network of MACUA which networks mining affected communities across South Africa, on the basis that this writer wrote an article criticising the Mining Phakisa process. All that the article effectively said was, that it would do government and the country well, if there was less Phakisa(Hurry Up), and more Bhekisisa(Look Closely). MACUA leaders questioned the intentions of Phakisa and pointed out that mining affected communities have only experienced the worst effects of mining and that this unholy haste to “hurry up” - phakisa, without broader and proper consultation could only really mean that the current trajectory of mining activities, would expedite the continued exclusion, pollution and environmental destruction that mining has come to symbolise.

And yet, despite the fears of my own psychosis, I am not sure that the psychosis is mine. Perhaps, the psychosis belongs to the Minister and a government that refuses to see the shadows on the wall.

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