Time to revive principle of ubuntu for common good

Discrimination of any kind is an act against humanity. In the previous dispensation,  the architects of apartheid used the system  as a resource to make one group  rich and powerful while others poor and slaves.

 SA is witnessing a new form of discrimination in the form of corruption  through which a few individuals are self-enriching with no care for    the poor and powerless.

Those who are corrupt in the democratic government cannot claim to be involved in the liberation of the poor. They are as bad as any other  oppressors.

Corruption is a cruel act against ubuntu, God and humanity. God cannot be used against his own creation. It is sad that in the contemporary situation the poor are  oppressed in the name of democracy, freedom and liberation.

The corruption is promoted by systems that look as if they came to save lives and yet destroys these lives further. The evil of corruption is in hiding behind the image of democracy. This devil operates in the face and voice of God and is confusing to others.

We submit that the concept of ubuntu is one way to address corruption. We may pose  moral questions like, would you be happy in your richness that is taken from the tears and blood of others? What happened to the principles of ubuntu that, I see myself in you and you in me? I am fulfilled only when all are?

The reflection of how a human being should be, on behalf and in relation to each other, is also clearly reflected in ubuntu and completely destroyed by corruption. Ubuntu does not refer to one human being, but is many in one and one in many; we in them and them in us. Without ubuntu there is no human being.

Ubuntu does not have a she and he, but relates to the people of God. Hence, we argue that the concept of ubuntu could be used as a solid defence for women against patriarchy.

The corrupt lack ubuntu.

I have noticed in western-initiated universities that,  when they teach the concept of ubuntu, they think that it is a scholarly subject. That is a mistake, because ubuntu  is not something that one can teach like other subjects.

Ubuntu is  intrinsic, its   value integral to the African, in the mind and soul of those who are born in ubuntu.

It is shocking that people born in ubuntu can be found deep in corrupt activities. It constitutes the person from the womb;  the person is born from ubuntu and to ubuntu. According to ubuntu, those who abuse, rape, and are corrupt and kill women, are guilty of doing the same to God. God of ubuntu is raped by corruption.

If Africans practise ubuntu the same way they practised Christianity, all women and children would be safe and free in their land, and corruption would  die. An African child does not need to be evangelised to know and understand God. He or she is born by God of ubuntu, from God of ubuntu and to God of ubuntu.

Every human being is created in the image of God, not only those who subscribe to certain religious organisations. The image of God inside that human being is reflecting God outside that person.

Ubuntu means I take care, respect and value others for myself. The central part of ubuntu is that one must learn to put themselves in the shoes of others. The image and how God appears is not in me, as westerners would say, but in others and then others see God in me.

Where is ubuntu in people who are abusing women and partake in corrupt practices?

The God of the house of ubuntu is a communal God, the one who cares about the entire community and who punishes the one who disturbs the peace of the community. Individualism and selfishness which are basic characteristics of the corrupt are not Godly, as our God of ubuntu is communal.

We can’t serve God who is far away if we can’t respect those that he created and who live among us.

Jesus talks about loving our neighbours, but Africans have no real concept of neighbours. A western definition of neighbours are people residing next to your home. In ubuntu we have people, us in all people and no boundaries that separate them. And the question is then, how do we disrespect ourselves through corruption?

In ubuntu, whenever food is prepared, we must  cater for anyone who might visit and need food. This is an act out of respect for human beings and God in them.

Where do you place corruption in this concept? Corruption is disrespecting ubuntu. It is a sign  of the end of ubuntu in Africans.

It is considered a great gesture of respect for God when a person has served a fellow human being. The  poor in the community would be given a cow (inkomo yenqoma) by their neighbours so that they could also have milk for their families. This is how God was served by people through people. The respect and honour of other human beings is linked to many blessings.

Ubuntu never knew that a person could be used by another person for personal benefit;    that the powerful can oppress the less powerful nor that women can be raped and killed.

The ubuntu never  knew of stealing as  God condemned such entirely such practices. Ubuntu has been destroyed by the western concepts such as  capitalism where individuals can become super rich through manipulating other human beings.

All these manipulative ideas of corruption eroded the ideas of ubuntu and how a person used to relate to others. Through western concepts, ubuntu has been disregarded, which is tantamount to self-hate. Adoption of the so-called  civilised western culture has resulted in abuse of power and corrupt practices.

It is strange and an antithesis that we find so much corruption and abuse in people who are born with ubuntu. The corrupt and those who abuse  women are not ubantu.

As South Africans it is time we revive our ubuntu  principles for the common good.

Reverend Mzukisi Faleni is a theologian. He presents the Imvuselelo show on Umhlobo Wenene FM and writes in his personal capacity.