So systemic is corruption, manipulation of the truth and lying among politicians in South Africa that traditional political terms have been captured and manipulated for self-interest, and now often mean the opposite of what the dictionary says they do.
The captured political terms are now increasingly accepted as correct. Mass illiteracy, mass ignorance, mass lack of critical thinking and mass lack of reading have contributed to this.
Because most political terms now mean the opposite of what they originally did, public discourse and policy debates take place in a twilight zone, confused and nonsensical. Sadly, many citizens support and vote for leaders, parties and policies based on the distorted definition of political terms.
The word “progressive” is a case in point. Traditionally, progressive means positive ideas: human rights, constitutionalism, democracy, diversity, gender equality and enlightened culture. “Progressive” in the captured meaning is seen as being opposed to rational thought, opposed to the truth when it does not fit one’s opinion, false beliefs or outdated ideology or present reality.
Those who identified themselves with the corrupt meaning of progressive label independent thinkers who demonstrate commonsense and eschew the mob mentality as “clever blacks”. In the corrupt sense of the word, all blacks should conform to the same corrupt progressive views on all things.
Populist parties such as the EFF, the MK Party and the African Transformation Movement (ATM) have formed the “Progressive Caucus” as an opposition bloc. They claim they are progressive, when they are anti-constitutional, accept violence as a form of political engagement, espouse patriarchal values, oppose the independence of civil society and the media, and are often mean-spirited in their engagement with opponents.
MK Party leader Jacob Zuma wants to send pregnant teenage girls to Robben Island; former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu violently manhandled journalist Adrian de Kock outside parliament; EFF president Julius Malema made online the private mobile number of the journalist Karima Brown for EFF members to shout vile abuse at her, including threats of rape and violence.
Because most political terms now mean the opposite of what they originally did, public discourse and policy debates take place in a twilight zone, confused and nonsensical
“Activists”, in the new meaning of the word, are now those who shout empty slogans, who shout violence, spout outdated rhetoric and promote simpleton silver-bullet solutions to complex problems. “Activists” are now also foot-soldiers defending violent, corrupt and clueless village-idiot leaders.
Similarly, everyone now appears to be a “revolutionary” in South Africa. Revolutionary appears in the new meaning to be a person who insults, defames and vilifies opponents, who blames conspiracies for their leaders’ self-inflicted problems; a person who rejects facts, dismisses commonsense and spouts ideologies that have failed everywhere the past 100 years.
A “revolutionary” in the corrupt meaning is a person who hides behind online pseudonyms, fake identities and uses internet bots to simulate human activity. A revolutionary now scorns evidence-based thinking, is anti-science and anti-commonsense.
The word “courageous” is now for those who bully others online behind fake profiles and faceless accounts and anonymously spew untruths about critics. An intellectual is now someone who does not read, who regurgitates tired old slogans and screams violently at opponents.
Groups such as the MK Party and the EFF claim they are parties of “the Left” — when they are actually full-blown populist nationalist parties. Generally left used to refer to groups that backed internationalism, human rights, equality — including gender equality — and cultural enlightenment. Yet, South Africa’s “left” parties are socially conservative, anti-constitutional and patriarchal.
“Communists” in the captured meaning are those who live large on taxpayers’ money. They are often sponsored by big business — though in public they decry “white monopoly capital”. Zuma was defended by his supposedly “left”, “communist” and “socialist” supporters when he tarted up his private compound, Nkandla, with R246m of taxpayers’ money.
The truth is increasingly captured by corrupt “progressive” politicians. The lie has increasingly become the new truth. The capturing of political terms is a threat to the stability of South Africa. It undermines the credibility of the constitution, prevents sustainable policy making, causes toxic decision-making, disrupts racial peace and ultimately undermines development, poverty reduction and job creation.
• Gumede is founder of the Democracy Works Foundation and author of ‘Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times’ (Tafelberg)
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