Sandile Dikeni
Dalindyebo means “create wealth”. Buyelekhaya has something to do with “returning home”. The language is Xhosa. This person, however, is a Thembu.
A Thembu, like Nelson Mandela was – a Thembu (and royal, too). In fact, more royal than Rolihlahla. He is the current king of abaThembu. He is also involved in a criminal controversy. Don’t ask me the details; I don’t know. I only know that he is refuting a judgment from some Eastern Cape court. He initially refuted and appealed the judgment, but lost the appeal and is currently in some squabble with the legal fraternity in South Africa.
Let me remind you that I am also a Thembu. I am from a clan called amaGcina. They are famous as a very intelligent clan. A famous member of my clan was Walter Sisulu, who was known for his famous role in the intellectual designs of Nelson Mandela.
Okay, let me explain that although abaThembu are also Xhosa-speaking, they are not Xhosa. I am reluctant to go into some anthropological lecture now, but it is difficult to avoid the anthropological tones of this moment.
See, Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo is currently sent to jail. His tribe, from what I could hear from the news, is refuting his conviction. His tribe and a concern I heard as Contralesa (Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa) do not think he can be found guilty by a South African judicial system and sent to jail.
The argument seems to be that the fact that he is of royalty, he is above our criminal law. As a Thembu, I disagree. He must not, I say, attempt to use royalty as an escape from our criminal justice system.
I have always shuddered at the thought of this kind of moment questioning my Thembu life. Tribal royalty should not be seen as an escape from our criminal justice system.
It should not. We should discourage anyone who thinks that there is a possibility to play tribal games that can provide some anthropological escapes in our criminal styles. Now is the time for our realities to walk away from the narrow tribal reasoning that seeks to justify criminal irregularities.
Our legal system is, in my opinion, one of the best in the world. There is no reason for us to revert to primitive styles. When, for some reason, we do, then it should not only be one tribe that does so. It should be a national resolve that is articulated to all. It should also be understood by all.
It is common knowledge that the South African intellect is capable of various possibilities. I like that. It is also possible to say that the various moments when those possibilities came to play we were not really ashamed.
Chief Dalindyebo and his people will do well to trust the South African legal system as a world beauty because it is. My vague knowledge of our criminal law has not given me tremendous concerns, although law is generally a trouble field aspect for me.
In my studies, law did not give me the kind of feelings that I got, for instance, from sociology or from the many dynamisms of language. That is how I discovered my deep love for communication. More, I discovered the biggest move in our country will be donated by communication. I also have a hunch that we are capable of achieving the biggest successes in communication in the world.
A language that has captured my attention, you know, is Khoi. Is it called Khoi? Is it San? Growing up under apartheid, we had an understanding that did not speak proudly of these peoples. It is one of the biggest blunders that apartheid forced on us. I am still unable to understand our coat of arms! But I am digressing now. The real thinking here was to talk to the Thembus; about how to stop complicating the Dalindyebo issue.
I might be feeling a terrible discomfort because it is not, for me, possible to view a Thembu tribalism or our search for complex sociologies in this reality provided by this country. I listened to the discourse feeling a deep dissatisfaction about having moved this far politically only to be reminded that my tribal authorities might not have moved at my pace. It is not an entirely comfortable thought. I am also scared that the rest of the country will think that the Thembu are tribalists.
We are not tribal. I believe, for instance, that we are more than the Xhosa, but will not say so until I have done the counting.
Another point of concern is that abaThembu do not really see themselves as anything but Xhosa. The reason is the language. When one speaks Xhosa in Gugulethu, he or she is Xhosa. What else? I understand the thinking.
I am also not a purist when it comes to this thing. Coming from Victoria West, my communication in Afrikaans is not too bad. In fact, I was told many times that my Afrikaans is slightly better than my Xhosa, but that is, in fact, not true – believe you me.
I am not able to stick to the Dalindyebo issue because it really bothers me. It is just not understandable how an intelligent reality of the Thembu can be seen in this current issue. I also do not know why the national commentators seem so quiet about it. Is it because it is in the Eastern Cape?
What is the opinion here in the Western Cape? The Western Cape does have Thembus here. Why are they quiet? I do sometimes feel worried that the Xhosa speakers of this province have an attitude that makes them aloof from the realities of the country.
I do not understand why. I know, however, that it is a strange aloofness. It does not hold anything good. How can it when their distance from political power is loudly moaned by the Khayelitshas of this province? Back to Dalindyebo, I hope he will accept the judgement and make the country believe that the Thembu tribe is a beautiful entity capable of giving birth to people like Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
I also hope that the Thembus can speak to each other and convince themselves that it is not wise for the tribe’s chief be seen against the country’s judicial authorities. This is an opportunity for the Thembu people to show the country that they possess a dignity that the nation is proud of.
It is time that we make people understand that we are not only concerned about the technicalities of social tendencies, but that the depths of our prime people be the measurement of our search for soul. This can be done when the leaders of the different essences speak the depths of our beautiful souls. I know we can listen. I also know why we can listen. I know because of the many times we spoke to each other.
Sometimes we heard words and songs that were not said or sung, but filled our hearts with the wisdom of a surviving people. Our country is more than the classical definition of a nation state. It is bigger than that.
The Thembu people know that. So does Dalindyebo of abaThembu.