South Africa: The Language of Marching - Will We Ever Be Fluent?

analysis

As the dust slowly clears from the area around Luthuli House after the brief fracas between the ANC and the DA on the streets of Jo'burg, the usual questions about these marches and public violence in the streets will be asked. Why did it have to happen? Why did the DA feel it had to march in the first place? Why did the ANC gather its supporters en masse, knowing full well what would happen? And is there really no better way to resolve differences on policy about jobs? Or is it just politics as usual?

You have to love our politics. The march hadn't even started and Jackson Mthembu and Mmusi Maimane were shouting at each other on Gauteng's radio stations. The blame game begins before the main event even happens. In a way, that says more about our politics, and how it reduces itself to such point-scoring, than anything else. But no matter - the real questions revolve around the politics of marching, the symbolism of it all, and the place that it occupies in our political culture.

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