Racism and monkey business in 21st century South Africa

A caustic spat is brewing on the comments pages of the respected South African Mail & Guardian newspaper/site. The debate is three-pronged, representing a spectrum of debate in South Africa.

The protagonist, Malegapuru Makgoba, vice-chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, alleges in his Wrath of dethroned white males that white males in South Africa are spoilers, comparing their behaviour to fallen alpha males in baboon packs.

Audacious. Some choice quotes:

"...let there be no doubt that sooner or later African dominance and the imitation of most that is African shall permeate all spheres of South African society...

This message should be loud and clear just as the writing is on the wall for all to whom South Africa belongs... ...It should therefore become common sense that the white male... ...learns to dance and sing like Ladysmith BlackMambazo... ...learn kwaito, dance like Lebo, dress like Madiba, enjoy eating 'smiley and walkies' and attend 'lekgotla'...

He must soon accept, value and imitate the things that matter dearly to Africans. The sooner this white male gets out of his denial mode, the sooner he will receive treatment and proper African rehabilitation. Surely, our white male group can and should do better than the baboon or the bonobo."

It's interesting how the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children: I would not have put it past the white supremacists of yester-decade to compare non-whites to baboons. Meanwhile, history gets on with the tiresome job of repeating itself.

Enter stage left Robert Morrell, professor at the faculty of education at the very same University of KwaZulu-Natal, arguing persuasively in his White, male, democrat, African for inclusion of all minorities, including white males, in the transformation of South Africa.

Finally, very much stage right, Dan Roodt enters with You can't have your banana and eat it. Roodt is controversial, having penned the likes of Adapt and Die - South Africa's new motto. He praises the previous apartheid regime for not having dropped its nukes on the non-whites of South Africa as an act of extreme altruism. Seriously.