The relevance of Frantz Fanon in post-1994 South Africa

Abstract

This article concerns Fanonian ideas to understand the complex terrain of post-1994 South Africa and particularly the unfolding of political discourses. South Africa is trying to emerge from the history of apartheid, but this attempt is made difficult by the forces of subjection that continue to weigh down the African mind and spirit, even in the post-1994 era. The black body in general and the black condition in particular is a nightmare that Fanon could see coming in his post-colonial imagination. For instance, the liberation struggle that Nelson Mandela went to jail for 27 years is rewarded by the betrayal of the black majority who are living in hellish black conditions under the African National Congress (ANC) government. The prolonged uninterrupted existence of this condition is proof enough of the tragedy that characterises the ANC, and particularly its weak political imagination. The service delivery protests in relation to unemployment, the lack of housing, electricity, water, schools, roads, healthcare, and even toilets are a logical conclusion of this tragedy, as state political patronage, corruption and nepotism will not transform the national economy. It is for that matter that Fanon has been and continues to be a spectre that haunts post-1994 South Africa.