“We were not white enough, now we are not black enough.”

This is the dominant and prevailing sentiment of most “coloured” people in the ruling party today. In fact, the ANC according to many is losing the battle when it comes to their non-racial principle, hence the significant declining support and votes from these communities throughout the country.

I must hasten to state that when analysing the National Democratic Revolution, the governing party’s basic premise has been that the primary contradiction in South African society is that of class contradiction. This means that the fight to be had is against imperialist and colonial economic domination over blacks and how to undo these skewed power relations.

A distant second contradiction is that of race.

As such, the foremost objective of the liberation struggle was to ensure the attainment of universal suffrage for the black man (political emancipation) followed swiftly by the economic emancipation of the peoples of South Africa.

This meant a fair and equitable distribution of wealth which in turn would dissipate poverty and inequality and hopefully lead to meaningful employment. The governing party is well on track in this respect albeit at a very slow pace due to numerous stumbling blocks, such as the unresolved land question, corruption, the slow pace of the economy, exorbitant wages of both private and public workers, and so much more.

In dealing with these contradictions the ANC spoke of the liberation and emancipation of blacks in general and Africans in particular. This distinction was made because the African was the most oppressed and exploited among all blacks. The ANC hence spoke of and developed a position paper on this matter referred to as “the National Question”.

Lenin first raised the matter of the National Question when he asked what constitutes a proper state. He concluded that an army, judiciary, government and so forth make up what is referred to as the state, but asked the most important question – what must the character of the state be? In other words, what should it look like?

Our South African nation-state fails on pretty much every feature of nationhood (except history and Constitution). We don’t have a common language, ownership of our land remains contested, our economic life is unequal, and our psychological make-up seemingly is similarly irreconcilable.

Could it be that our common need for social justice and a more equal society, one where theft of any form is not tolerated, could be the glue that binds us?

If we say the ANC must be a microcosm of South African society, the character of the state must thus be reflected. As we speak, the NEC of the ANC does not reflect the non-racial character of our society at all. Not holding a firm stand on the principle of non-racialism is a further indication of how low the moral and ethical standing of the ANC leadership has fallen in recent years. The consistent marginalisation of minority groups in recent years within the ANC and the resultant Africanisation of the ruling party serves as a microcosm of our broader society.

In the 1950s the adoption of the non-racial principle by the ANC saw a serious fight internally and eventually led to a breakaway from the party by some. The Pan African Congress of Azania was then formed. However, it was only in 1985 that “non-African” members (coloured, Indian and whites) of the organisation were allowed to occupy executive positions throughout the movement – a principle that was practised long ago in the SACP and the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto weSizwe.

This decision was taken at its Kabwe National Conference, and some may argue that this was only because dissent in the broader organisation and possible mutiny in the military camps was being averted. The point I’m making is that it has been a short time since 1985 for a broad church and nationalist movement such as the ANC to fully come to grips with this principle. And now, in the era of crass accumulation and the convenient absence of class consciousness, it creates a false sense of identity, where poor people (coloureds) in Manenberg simply do not see themselves as equal to the poor in Gugulethu, separated only by the railway lines.

We need not analyse the pyramid of class contradiction, where the means of production is owned by and large by whites, the managers of our factories are predominantly still young white men, the foreman is probably coloured or Indian and the labourers/workers by and large still Africans. And though the black middle class has grown at a steady pace over the last 20 years, this configuration still largely remains.

And so the question must be: what must the ANC do to rectify this lapse in judgement, this non-compliance to its principle? The non-racial principle, to be clear, for the ANC means the resolution of the National Question, which means the transformation of the socio-economic and political freedom of blacks in South Africa in order to have a better life for all.

The Democratic Alliance, on the other hand, talks of multiracialism, which I take to mean the tolerance of different racial groups, and that only through a meritocratic system can certain individuals lift themselves out of poverty and emancipate themselves economically. Transforming society fundamentally is not an objective of the DA as a party. It remains a DA strategy to organise national minorities based on the “swart gevaar” principle. The very sentiment, then, is we were not white enough, now we are not black enough. And the ANC is feeding into that narrative quite well at this point in our history.

The ANC took a bold decision some years ago to institutionalise the non-sexism principle throughout the organisation, thanks to former President Thabo Mbeki’s proposal. This they did by deciding that all constitutional structures of the ANC must reflect a 50% female representation, and as such that all executive positions in the ANC have a 50% quota as prescribed in its constitution.

Has the time arrived when the principle of non-racialism is also institutionalised in some form or shape? Never forget that the non-implementation of the non-racial principle can also give rise to tribalism within the organisation and then it becomes a slippery slope.

Now, on the part of the so-called coloureds, history shows us that things were always given to us and today we still want things to be given to us. We were given extra textbooks at school, more so than black African kids down the road, the Rapport newspaper gave us an extra insert and so too the Sunday Times. We were given a little extra through the welfare system too. This giving created a sense of entitlement among our people. Today we are asking the question in the ANC about the National Question because we want them to give us – what?

Others in the ANC argue what I call the chicken-and egg-argument. If so-called coloureds feel they are accommodated in the ANC and that the ANC is genuine with regards to their plight, then the numbers will follow in support of the ANC, whereas the counterargument is: bring those numbers to the ANC and you will be taken seriously and be allowed to enjoy some of the spoils like others in the ANC. Everyone it seems is losing the plot; it’s not about representation but about class contradictions.

As a so-called coloured, in Mzansi, I have particular lived experiences. In the end, my cultural experience is not white, it’s not an experience of the haves but of the have-nots, my experience is informed by poverty, inequality and marginalisation – in other words, a black lived experience by all accounts.

Now, as coloured people you may want to romanticise your lived experiences and talk about being accommodated in a tricameral parliamentary system, an experience where your grandparents had a smallholding in a far-flung rural area and where a little more money was spent on you as opposed to a black African child, but in the end we must call it for what it was: A divide-and-rule tactic by the white oppressors, simply to give you the appearance that you are better, and that you are more loved and held in high regard.

As I’ve said before, how sad that some of you actually fall for this.

Racism has no place in our new democracy. We have fought too long and too hard to rid ourselves of it, to regain our dignity and pride as equal citizens. In the end, it’s okay to say: I am black and proud of it.

It is all good and well for President Cyril Ramaphosa to concentrate efforts on the Justice and Security Cluster, to get the NPA, the Hawks and our intelligence services in order, after Zuma’s mess. Cleaning up the State-owned Enterprises is indeed critical to all our success. Austerity and tax increases we cannot argue against, but all these speak only to the chattering classes’ concerns in our society, the petty bourgeoisie (middle class) – who come the 2019 General election will not be voting for you but for the DA – and ratings agencies and foreign investors.

It’s time you start addressing “the real” issues afflicting your party and society in general. Convince your people that your ANC is genuine in effecting change that will transform the material conditions for them. Otherwise, your victory last December at Nasrec will count for naught. I contend that it is the current ANC’s inability to manage our National Question which places South Africa at the gravest of risk.

If we look at the deepening social theory and practice on the National Question, all I want to say is that the nation-building project requires a class approach to understand coloured and Indian identities and consciousness.

The challenge is to open working-class politics and organisations to the coloured working class. If we want to get to grips with understanding the impact of the National Question in our country, the route in my opinion to go is definitely through the coloured working class. DM