Cecil John Rhodes: British Empire Hitman

For those Black people who were oblivious to the reality of chronic and endemic Black inequality in South AfriKKKa, the advent of the Coronavirus and the lockdowns provided us with a crystallisation of this historically evolved and structural problem.

It speaks to the importance of securing and protecting the frontline. It speaks to the importance of defending what you have or what you have gained. It speaks to the significance of a vanguard. A fortress that has warring sentinels is as good as a fort without a vanguard.

Loosely translated, the above proverb says that there are as many opinions as there are people. In the adoption of this proverb into the legal fraternity, it is said “Quot judices, to legalis sententiae”, which translates to there being as many legal opinions as there are judges.

Currently, the dominant narrative of the protests unfolding in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal is on the theft of items from businesses, especially large malls and shopping centres. Social media is awash of mask-clad people carrying television sets, maize meal, shoes and other consumer items—even medicines and sex toys (gasp!). No item carried by protesters (who are called looters) escapes the gaze of the reporter looking for an easy fix. The narrative has been set. The national consciousness is focused. The truth is lost in the horrors of burned buildings and raided storefronts.

Tracing a trail through the ages casts it plain in sight that poetry has always been an instrument to communicate messages of urgency, activism, celebration, hope and healing.

One of the greatest threats to any revolutionary project is the failure of those who claim to be involved in revolution, to deliberately remember and stay engaged in revolutionary activism.