Little Mabuthu

The Story of Little Mabuthu - Real Empowerment

Little Mabuthu refers to a young African boy I regard as a warrior. Actually, he is a warrior, given his attitude towards life. He conquers everything on his path. Yet, when you look through his eyes, you see his soul, you feel the humility of your ancestors, and you see endless future possibilities of greatness. An inquisitive young boy with energy that needs to be directed to do good.

The real empowerment of any child (Black, white, yellow, green, purple, but here I talk about black Africans from my lived experience) is magnitudes better than BBEEE. Empowerment, according to the Cambridge English dictionary, "is the process of gaining freedom and power to do what you want or to control what happens to you." When you can't control what happens to you, the system hoses you down, and the longer this happens, the more unescapable it gets. Nowadays, it does not take a village to raise a child since we no longer live in small tribes but have shrunk to families. Now, it takes a caring father, mother, uncle, brother, sister, nephew, aunt, cousin, etc. We are in a dire situation hence the phrase black child, you are on your own, which indicates that even your family members are not up to rescue you. 

Black South African middle class has seen growth since the beginning of democratic South Africa, and it is exactly this growth we must sustain by empowering those closest to us. Those whose life stories we understand the most. In The Sacrificial Lamb post, I stress the need for the first-generation middle class to acknowledge that they must take the beating for everyone, especially their own families. If we do not do this, the current economic issues will exacerbate and cause a rebellion, destroying what's left of the looted/dismantled infrastructure.

Kendrick Lamar in The Heart Part 5 says that "Sacrifice personal gain over everything, Just to see the next generation better than ours." The black middle class must learn to sacrifice personal gain for the next generation. That is, move away from instant gratification and yellow bananas and focus on green bananas. Little Mabuthu just wants a little spark to get his/her life going.

We all have been sparked by others, and we should promise to spark others and follow through. We remember vividly those who sparked us. That teacher. That church elder. That neighbour. That classmate. That friend. The list goes on. We are literally the product of everyone we have encountered. Our brain neurons have literally changed from all the encounters. New links were formed, and other links weakened and ultimately broken.

At the beginning of democratic South Africa, many black South Africans were sparked by white South Africans who, for the most part, felt a little guilt for you when you were a little Mabuthu, that is, the first black accountant in the office, first black engineer, first black doctor, first black manager, the list goes on. This is heart-to-heart stuff. It is amazing how we as humans can witness injustice and continue living like we don't see it. This is one of the reasons why slavery, colonialism, and executions lasted for hundreds of years. Indeed, it is easy to judge in retrospect. What are the current injustices of our time? I'd like to think that lack of empowerment of those close to us is one of them. Let's not be the ones inflicting a moral injustice on little Mabuthu.

Little Mabuthu is waiting for someone to tell him that he must believe in himself first before others. We all know little Mabuthu mostly lack confidence and look up to you like a superhero. Everything he hears from you sticks, literally. What we want to be permanently imprinted on little Mabuthu's brain (as neural links) is not moral injustice resulting in resentment but the moment of pilot ignition. 

The passive injustice against little Mabuthu. The story goes like this. It is December, and little Mabuthu hopes he gets something for Christmas, especially clothes. Thanks to the mass-produced Asian clothes, little Mabuthu will get something new; however, he learns that there's always something better, such as Nike sneakers. Little Mabuthu's house is paid a visit by his middle-class uncle, who drives a German machine and lives affluently (The watch me eat joy lifestyle; The I have what you don't). Colonizers used to make us love their wealth and hate ourselves. Now it's little Mabuthu's uncle. Little Mabuthu's uncle is probably a BBEEE beneficiary. Uncle knows very well that Mabuthu's parents have no means to spark Mabuthu. But the uncle comes and goes like the December holidays. If little Mabuthu is not empowered, he will join the revolution. This is how Marxists are made.

Charity begins at home. This is meaningful and selfless giving. Empathy and sympathy at play. This is empowerment at the very point of need. The most meaningful zero-to-one empowerment through setting alight the little fuel in little Mabuthu's eyes. He has ambitions.

In summary, charity begins in your family. The trajectory of your family's lineage depends on the decisions and actions you are taking today. Empower little Mabuthu.