Culture is ours and that’s that
by by Thandanani Mkhize and Maropeng Moholoa
2009-12-08 16:45
IT IS a fact that African cultures are slowly disappearing, and I
am of the belief that this requires custodians to guard against that.
Our cultures and traditions are under threat from the West, and
even worse is to see fellow Africans agreeing with these West ideologies.
Firstly it was umkhosi womhlanga (the reed dance) that was placed
under microscope. The know-it-all non-Africans said the dance violates young
girls’ rights.
Later on they argued that ukuhlolwa (virginity testing) also
infringes on young girls’ rights.
Umkhosi wokweshwama (killing of the bull) is currently under some
serious scrutiny from Animal Rights Africa, who claim the ceremony should be
done away with.
What for? It’s a given to some of us who have basic mathematics
knowledge that those who established this Animal Rights Africa are not
Africans.
The following is a question that all Africans need to meditate on:
Is an animal right worth divorcing our African cultures that make us Africans
unique from the West?
Those with reliable memories will remember that one animal
rights group once suggested that the way we Africans slaughter animals inflicts
pain to the animals.
I wonder if they were suggesting that Africans sedate
animals before killing them.
We are yet to hear these animal rights groups make noise about game
hunting and fishing which are enjoyed mostly by non-Africans.
When hunting, they
either shoot the animal or set dogs on it and when fishing, they use hooks that
inflict pain to the fish and sometimes they set it free to try and catch it
again while it is wounded.
Both these practices inflict pain. There is no noise about these
practices and many others yet we Africans don’t complain.
For crying out loud, death is death, there is no nice or better
death. At the end of the day the animal dies. Human beings do not rejoice over
death of another, I guess it’s the same with animals.
Unfortunately that’s how
life is – all living creatures are not immortal.
When Africans gather, either for a funeral, a wedding or a right of
passage, an animal is slaughtered and that needs to be respected.
This is also
how we communicate with our ancestors, which they can be equated to
angels.
Culture is not immune to change, in fact, it changes all the time
but there are certain things that cannot be changed.
Like Judge Nic van der
Reyden likened the stopping of the bull sacrifice to ordering Catholics to stop
giving holy communion; unfortunately umkhosi wokweshwama is also that aspect of
culture that cannot change and that needs to be respected.
Our African cultures define us as Africans and must therefore be
preserved. Africa cannot and will not be Europe or any other continent. People
came into our country and called us barbaric and now they are trying to bury our
cultures for good.
As if colonisation was not enough, they are now targeting what
makes us African. To hell with all this nonsense. If this group feels we are
barbaric and cruel to animals, the exits are all open for them, from airports to
harbours.
They must leave us in peace. They are infringing on our right to
practice cultures of our choice freely. Let us as Africans fight for what is
ours and uphold our roots.