The Fight for Identity: Tshwane vs Pretoria

The spotlight now shines on the nation that many people call South Africa. In the Northeast area of this land, approximately 50 km. North of the city known as Johannesburg, is the city of Pretoria. I hesitate to state these names matter-of-factly because just as these lands were once called by another name, they again may change. As the consciousness of the peoples grows, the traditional wisdom, knowledge and understanding is becoming reestablished. Recent history becomes a valuable lesson on the reality of a culture without genuine spirituality, we look to those at the forefront of the struggle to reestablish their values and culture. A city currently named Pretoria, which lies in a warm, well-sheltered and fertile valley, is one of these many places.

In this city, a struggle is going on over the recognition of the re-naming of Pretoria. Despite the predominate usage within the region of the original name, Tshwane, it is not "officially" recognized. This is what its people are officially struggling to do. Like all cities, this one is more of a metropolitan area. That this area is already known as Tshwane metropolitan area does not satisty its inhabitants. After all, everyone else knows it as Pretoria. The name change has the support of the population, the support of the city council and the public news outlets. Opposed to the name change are private news outlets, groups within the business community and some of those with cultural ties to the idea of Pretoria.

Naturally, this is a derisive issue. Pretoria is named after the man who led his army to victory over the Zulu, at what is called the Battle of Blood River. The success of the preliminary approval for the name change has evoked a very emotional response from those identifying with the name Pretoria. Some have waged, what can be rightfully called, a terrorist campaign of defacement. The business groups have suggested that the costs involved in a name change could be better spent on poverty and AIDS. These, threats of legal action and bureaucratic stalling have kept the name change from becoming official, since the formal request came seven years ago.

With a clear mind, one can see that, as the will of the people has shown already, on signs and in newspapers, the name of the city is Tshwane. It is also clear that this will not case while the positions of power in opposition to this change are strong enough to keep it from becoming official. The will of the people must be to remove the opposition from these positions. Then, all can accurately call the administrative capital of, what is known today as Tshwane, South Africa.

What a proud accomplishment it is, not just the reassertion of ones people over colonial rule, but to live in a place with a name that is beautiful and inspirational. Tshwane refers to a black cow, one by which this area became fertile. It was during a time of drought and famine, that tribal priests used a black cow as a principle part of a rainmaking ritual. Water was taken from the main river that flows through the area and sprinkled on a black cow. The cow was then allowed to graze freely and wherever the cow grazed, rain would fall and the land would become fertile. Well, it remains so to this day. And with the traditional abilities of these peoples reestablished as an inspiration for all to speak of, when referencing this land.

Just as humanity gains ground, so to can inhumanity. Across the continent of Merita, the colonial powers continue with their agenda: to eradicate traditional culture. The purpose of this is evident in the concept of "whoever teaches you has power over you". Historically and currently, the colonizer attempts to control the mind of the individual, by persuading him/her to accept what the colonizer has to offer. When an individual accepts this, he or she has essentially taken the colonizer as their master. The colonizer will explain everything for the individual. Any question regarding the physical world is addressed by science, while questions about the metaphysical are addressed through religion. When the explanation of the colonizer is not believable, they say you must believe and have faith. When it is contradictory, they expect you to ignore it and enjoy your material wealth because "you only live once" 

It is no wonder that the agenda of the colonizer is for instituting a colonial education system in Merita. Now, if a quality individual is what the colonial education system was trying to develop, then its focus should be in the United States, where quality has been reduced to a slogan. The colonizer must be succeeding in what it is trying to produce here in the U.S., for them to attempt to reproduce it elsewhere. What they work to produce are people willing to support their power structure. People will support the colonizer after they have been educated into its culture. These people see themselves and their world just the way the colonizer has taught them, and are unwilling to go against their master. Understanding the importance of the education to the individual, allows someone the perspective necessary to discern the colonial agenda. 

So, despite the positive news about Tshwane, two recent schools built in "South Africa" by a well-known American celebrity are troubling. These two schools are named and set to be leadership academies. This leaves no question as to what role its students are expected to fill. These students are to become leaders, and as the school founder stated, these schools will prepare its students to attend any Ivy League university. Clearly, the colonizer wishes to spread its culture, and power, throughout Merita. It will succeed, if those students who grow up to hold the colonial education, or paradigm, as their master do indeed become leaders of the future. 

When this same colonizer failed in the past to persuade dark-skinned people to adopt its culture, they were snatched away to slavery, learning firsthand the colonizers culture. Today, the material wealth gained from slavery, and other cultural wickedness, has put the colonizer in a position of great power. With these vast resources, the colonial powers have set forth to change their image. The colonizer now educates us to survive and succeed within its society. We are taught what they want us to know about them and what they want us to know about other cultures. When an individual's paradigm is set according to the colonizer's will, they will defend the colonial power with their life and soul. A current example of this is when an individual exhibits a nationalistic identity. So many people have killed or have been killed for their nation. The reason for this varies. Some have had their heads filled from early on that such a thing is heroic, others may do it for the money. Whatever the reason, a society that accepts war as part of its culture cannot also say that it is a society that values human life. The only way people will believe this contradiction, is if they have been raised to believe it as part of their cultural paradigm. 

So pervasive is the capture of an individual's cultural paradigm that descendants of those people, who were snatched away to slavery, are returning to their ancestral homeland to educate others into the culture of their slave master. Instead of returning to Merita to find those whom can teach the traditional education of initiation, the colonization continues. It continues, more pervasively, because the material wealth gained allows it to show off what it can buy while ignoring the cost it took others to make. The colonial culture lacks the human values that are the backbone of our traditional cultures. Without these traditional values, what is left is the culture of the parasite. This culture is now being taught in "South Africa" to children of the most impressionable age. These kids have been separated from their traditional cultural influences by being kept in these boarding schools and allowed little contact with their families. This will ensure the setting of the colonial cultural paradigm within the African leaders of tomorrow and ensure the colonizer's place as master. We must preserve the knowledge and traditions of our ancestral cultures by learning them. This will ensure our correct place and perspective.