Can you see yet, proletariaat? SASOL had a close integrated connection with government through shareholding, governance relationships, and through its elite networks, which were strongly aligned to Afrikaner Nationalist leadership of the apartheid government. In addition to financial support from the state, SASOL was able to count on a cheap labour force, unregulated labour laws and Draconian political laws that used military and policing methods to control society. In this context, during the period between 1948 and 1979, people were not in a position to challenge safety in the workplace or environmental damage…For example, Sappi was fined only R600 for a spill at its Ngodwana Paper Mill in 1989 that devastated ecosystems of the Elands and Crocodile Rivers…on October 1 1987, a wage strike at the SASOL I petroleum refinery in Sasolburg turned ugly when management called in police and vigilantes to break up the workers’ strike. The result was the loss of 77 workers’ lives, and 2400 jobs. SASOL never accepted responsibility for its actions.1
Mense van African threads,
have you figured out what’s going on yet?
you, in die laer klasse,
boere without holiday homes, yachts, Woolworths mustard,
no European citizenship through property ownership, horse riding lessons, the good leef,
Wim, a locksmith, Ronel the hairstylist,
Jannie, an automechanic, special is a braai list,
new cars for 21st birthdays is not your life,
you who should understand more the werkersklas fight.
This year, when the hoër klasse went to Brakpan,
to make an online video of you,
did you notice your homes and families,
framed by three ryk seuns as a “rof en tof” gross zoo.
Are you their white savages, my klas mense?
The side-joke, the laer klas doormat.
Are you the people expendable,
by economic string-pullers,
their go-to entertainment is how you’re rendered.
You call them broer, they some say buht for boet,
even if their name’s Kruger, de Klerk, Verwoerd,
kan jy regtig not see what game’s afoot?
Because I remember in 2006,
wit ryk seuns from the poshest schools around,
told me I should not enter the Oos Rand,
they’re “rough” monstrous, I may not be found.
Yet, almost ten years later I married,
the Oos Rand’s laer klas seun,
a boer, not a monster,
who felt bad, deep-down wished things were fair, that equal was real.
So, are you their wit woeste? The lesser whites of class frame…
I ask because of double B and C,
This year they sent a posh South African race mate,
to interview the werkersklas,
a former Apartheid polisie man, disabled.
He murdered readily, children too,
and Ms high-and-mighty gave him the boot,
but here’s the farce, the media mask,
high-and-mighty would have benefitted more,
from the economic structures his murders kept in place.
She sits on camera and acts like,
racism, an entire system, was only about violence and hate.
She does not mention if her mum or dad,
is a British immigrant, French, German or Nordic,
who, unlike polisie boer, chose racism,
flying from all over the Western world, making my jaw hurt.
While laer klas was born into the system,
conditioned, what chance did he have? Shaped from birth.
What’s the immigrants’ excuse,
for coming to racism (in their thousands) to build hoër klas hearths.
On why she thought dragging out polisie boer was news,
a cheap sensationalist attempt,
there’s something about dangling your sins, laer klasse,
that I bet she knew would earn her a career boost, leaving you with contempt.
And do you believe her, my klas broer?
My suster too?
Has it dawned on you yet?
That he, you, the many laer conscripted tools,
were used to keep the wealth imbalance in place, a minority and foreign checkmate.
I was listening to a podcast while making our dinner,
a story about poisoning miners,
the name, Dirk Jooste.
An American accent meant I did not recognise the name at first,
until I heard his voice,
stopped stirring to look up the miner’s birth.
And suddenly, all I felt was accustomed rage,
like explosions from an inner volcano,
an inferno that never abates.
These bastards, I thought,
they never stop,
South African elites in business, corporate kings,
with their political puppets treating the laer klasse like toilet mops.
Dirk’s trembling hand was seen while at work,
only to find out he was already poisoned.
The manganese, fine dust, zooming into every orifice,
he can’t possibly be the only one,
how many werkersklas broers have Parkinsons symptoms, are we allowed to frown?
And the executive mine leadership, are they white or are they black?
You know why I ask…
White-on-white exploitation, where is it honoured by your leads?
Especially when it involves class.
Your collective voice will cry foul,
but only for affirmative action.
A man, a human being, once healthy,
is now damaged in the head,
living with shivers while his higher-ups remain stealthy.
The collective voice says nothing, NOTHING,
of equal vehemence and might,
against white-heavy upper elites,
who killed a man’s quality of life.
There’s no social media posts, panel discussions, no protests on streets,
no trips to foreign countries, demanding to know the full, industry-wide truth,
how typical…how disappointing.
And why would you mind this? Ja-broer politics worked for you.
Ja-broer collective voice did you comparatively well in the past,
but how’s that working out for you post-apartheid laws,
I have to, I must ask.
[In 2012] One of the primary demands of the [South African Lonmin mine] workers was a wage of R12,500 per month. Lonmin [mine] management considered the R12,500 increase to be completely unreasonable and the miners responded by engaging in protest and strike action. This demand [for a R12,500 per month wage] is ten times less than the wage of mineworkers in Australia and the United Kingdom…the voices of workers become the revealing testimony of the dehumanisation and reduction of labour at the Lonmin mine at the mercy of capitalism…one of the salient aspects in the events that preceded the massacre [the murder of 34 striking mineworkers by police officers] was the way in which the management of Lonmin [mine] related to labour. A mineworker referring to housing noted that they were closed in by wire like they were cows…A miner sadly recounted how he explained to the employer that they (the miners) were also human.2
Jy dink Dirkie is the only one?
Let me enlighten you,
on what laer klas Afrikaners put up with,
my Mister, raised by a single mother,
a school teacher who also worked as a delivery driver,
trying to give her child a life,
a boy who couldn’t afford University,
even though he was awarded a bursery,
his mom needed his support,
so he worked in the Oos Rand,
where he was born,
teaching himself computer programming words,
nog ‘n wit seun, from the hoër klas group,
a childhood friend from a multi-million Rand home,
asked him to do work on a government project,
their business needing work done for their profit,
multi-million then did not pay for the work done,
avoiding my Mister’s calls,
for no reason at all,
boasting, planning to charge the state more than a million,
for a website that was worth thousands at most,
a hoër klas friend-not friend gets away with stealing earned funds,
and do you think we could afford,
thousands of Rands on attorney fees,
no, not us born in the trenches,
but yes, tell us again how we are all free to your friends, South Africa’s elites.
My man’s long ago ex was abused,
over and over again,
a sexual torment, incest, a childhood’s pain,
a werkersklas girl of no name.
And why does this come as a shock?
Because when many live next door,
too many pretend that they’re inherently, magically more.
You’re not laer klas,
with us in a similar trench,
you’re white, you’re special,
not inferior class savages like the rest.
He pointed out that the process of identifying the interests of this labour aristocracy with those of the ruling class is an element arising out of the development of capitalism during its imperialistic stage. And nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in South Africa, where white labour has completely divorced its interests from those of the natives, to the detriment of the latter, upon whose exploitation it fattens. For “the European worker is haunted by fear of competition with the great masses of native labourers,” is the declaration of a South African trade union memorandum.“….Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and so the policy hitherto adopted has been one of ‘keeping the native in his place’, in order that certain of the higher-paid jobs might be retained as the special preserve of the European worker.” This policy, which has the endorsement of the Labour Party of the Union, is implemented by legislation, and has accentuated the division between white and black labour.3
It’s worse than you think, my swaer is in and out of jobs,
in and out of self rehab,
blonde and blue-eyed, something missing inside,
a laer klas man who doesn’t see his class, only skin, he hides,
from “those darkies”, me, them, all the same,
hiding slurs behind closed doors,
the poor man, born African, not by choice, he has no escape.
He will never join the trade union,
the most powerful, all black,
he will risk exploitation, low wages,
management abuse, even contract traps,
and he does this for one reason,
a minority who cannot bear to see himself as equally “them”,
in a country where the overwhelming majority,
a brother laer klas, do not look like him,
and isn’t that sad? Tragic?
A laer klas man,
without love for black magic,
in a black country, a black continent,
that he, his parents were born to,
generations of his family,
who could have been led, lived and comfortable with,
black cultures, African power allegiance and films too.
But no, the system, real racism,
did a real number on him, on us,
every single community and family,
has been touched,
soaked,
pretending of late, this is only about public service,
and three decades of votes.
There is ample evidence that the violent attack [of 2012] by the [South African] police on the Marikana miners was well planned. There was collusion between the police commanders, the Lonmin management and South African government ministers. The day before the assault, the police ordered 4,000 rounds of live ammunition for R5 assault rifles and four mortuary vans...The South African extractive economy was deeply integrated into the world market [post apartheid] and the new rising black elite eased into the neo-colonial relationship with the established [white minority and/or foreign] economic power. The ownership of land, factories, mines remained unchanged leaving the majority of the black communities in poverty. The legacy of social inequality and violence continued as before.4
So when ryk seuns, whether cousins or strangers,
paint my swaer with the laer klas savage brush,
will he stand up for himself?
Hold them to account for their class greed, the real stuff.
Will he tell them, they’re the white kingpins,
who masterminded his lived experience,
separating and degrading,
the greater half for their gains, they needed his obedience.
Will he say, ek is nie jou wrede proliteriaat,
I will no longer be used!
I see the machination,
masses divide and conquer,
racial blinkers on,
us laer klas still your useful tools.
Race matters only because race is class in good ol’ SA,
but in every racial category,
there is, there was a sliding scale.
And so for you, the forgotten,
the shamed laer klas,
what is the plan?
Are you hoping white masters,
upper classes,
bring back legal race protection or segregation?
You must know by now that your elites,
white and Afrikaners too,
were not ignorant during apartheid’s fall,
knowing exactly what it would do to you,
ensuring above all, their interests remain served,
they could have argued for socialist democracy,
but you and I both know, that’s a class prayer they were not willing to observe.
Thirty years later, some höer klas say,
we can debate social democracy homemade,
consider what was asked for decades long ago,
but rooi gevaar is unacceptable, enjoying still their PR charade.
What was denied on purpose was redistribution policies,
holding onto African resources, land and control.
They pushed back and pushed back for thirty years,
while media back pockets,
served us public corruption, not system design flaws.
And who did their policies benefit, if white state-led protection was missing?
Was it you, laer klas? Truly, were you paying attention?
This is my biggest issue with us minorities,
those who have less,
the laer klasse determined to ignore,
the issue of black and class redress,
out of deep ignorance and fear, we vote for our own exploitation,
our own economic impoverishment without thinking it through,
while certainly not less capable than the hoër mense,
who look like me or you.
They will tell us to keep voting, the usual cattle call,
tell us they got it all under control,
but that’s precisely the problem,
their actions, chosen inactions, push-backs,
have led us here, inequity consequences continue to enfold.
The [South African] Farlam Commission of Inquiry wanted an investigation into whether or not Lonmin [mine] was in a financial position to meet the [South African mine] workers’ wage demands, since Lonmin’s management originally refused to negotiate with the workers on the pretense that the corporation was unable to afford the workers’ wage demands…Lonmin’s Chief Financial Officer Simon Scott provided testimony on LMS’ finances. That testimony, read with other documents, showed that LMS, a so-called “Head Office company,” in turn paid management fees to Lonmin PLC in the UK of between 20% and 37% of its revenue, amounting to R429 million between 2007 and 2010. Transactions made for the sole purpose of shifting profits are called transfer mispricing. Transfer mispricing is but one of the tools in transnational corporations’ (TNCs) bag of tricks, used to reduce the profits declared in countries with higher corporate income tax levels—like South Africa—and reduce companies’ tax liabilities…Critically, if Lonmin did not shift profits out of the country, it could have afforded the RDOs’ [mineworkers] wage demands.5
You cannot possibly believe,
men who can afford overseas flights,
worth thousands,
are your true post-apartheid kin.
The men so wealthy, they own your debt,
your jobs, the ground at your feet,
homes, you still can’t pay for all of it.
They own every estate,
private beaches, commercial agri and game farms,
while you, laer klas sukkel for affordable meat and recreational yarn.
Women will write books skewed,
arguably fake news,
before moving to Swiss cheese with Phds,
the hoër klasse lying about the apart-system, how it benefitted a few.
And are these the people you betray us for?
A class betrayal you will deny,
even while your children lie closer to us, not them,
on the same exploited floor where we’re all about to die.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) estimates that the country loses approximately R100 billion in tax revenue annually as a result of Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). At a corporate tax rate of 27%, a R100 billion tax loss means that more than R350 billion leaves the country illicitly each year. A recent report indicates that more than 75% of workers earn below R5,800 per month. At the same time, SARS estimates that an estimated 500,000 people earn above R750,000 per annum, and approximately 250,000 people earn more than R1 million each year.6
I understand, I throw no shame,
confronting the loss of state protection,
superficial race,
must be hard for a proliteriaat,
not used to different faces.
But at some point,
you have to accept the class system, seeing all laer klasse deserve better,
you’re not their savage, their distraction, you’re more like us,
And I am sorry not-sorry that we look different.
When you learn of abuse of legal frameworks, capital flight,
interest rates beating you down,
hearing words for years: “union busting”, “labour laws problematic” or,
“scrap minimum wage”,
do you get that they’re threatening all of us? Killing us in multiple rounds.
It will be your daughter, a marketing intern,
or perhaps your son, a mechanic graduate,
who must beg and hustle for something better,
scrapped minimum wage, rely on market-related while chasing falling living standards.
When they talk about private investment, private interests,
over state-owned resources,
what makes you think the state does not include you?
You’d see the wealth of your birthplace go to ABC Limited elite,
and not used to make you and your klas maat new boots.
And on innovation, modern creation,
a competitive streak for global business, our economic enrichment,
liberal capitalism, minority dominant, inherited from apartheid,
has brought us how many new inventions, since 1994, kan jy nog sien?
The minority run, largely owned and enriched system,
the free market-leaning economic three-decade machine,
is not, as the hoër klas argued, this innovation-generating guarantee.
Innovation comes from human ingenuity,
resourcefulness and imagination,
financial support, guidance in droves, any economic system socially-structured can bring about good renovation.
Changing the engine, bettering a national system,
imagining its reinvention,
includes you, us,
laer klasse, it must,
are we not capable of reading, critical thinking,
African-bound imagination,
No? We must rely on ryk seuns so-called genius, shoo, you must be kidding.
Since the 19th century, South Africa’s political economy has been structured around the Minerals-Energy Complex (MEC)—the integration between mining, energy, and other upstream sectors (like steel) continues to shape the country’s post-apartheid economic structure. Cheap labor, migration, fossil fuel-powered energy, and uneven spatial development are central features of the MEC [Minerals-Energy Complex]. In post-Apartheid South Africa the character of the MEC [Minerals-Energy Complex] changed following the rapid deregulation of financial markets through the phasing out of capital and exchange controls beginning in 1995….South Africa’s political economy has become over-reliant on the financial sector and capital markets, as well as the speculative and consumption-based economic activities associated with this finance-led growth trajectory…In other words: profit shifting, increased shareholder value and lessened regulation of international financial flows are key markers of South Africa’s finance-led MEC [Minerals-Energy Complex].7
A people’s movement demands no blind allegiance,
You must question, listen openly,
and find forums to ask tough questions.
Common goals are what is needed,
not blind love,
you do not have to agree with everything,
but restructuring the African machine we must all agree upfront.
If that’s not your tea, power and privilege askew,
being your beat, hide it behind “conservative” or “liberal”, that’s also fine,
your eye prefers honing in on management issues,
we don’t all have to honour human lives.
But if you persist to rely on ja-broer politiek,
you cannot cry to us later that dear master hurt you between the butt cheeks.
Laer klasse there are two camps in South Africa,
the All lives matter, not equally, because it benefits us so,
and if All lives matter, it must be in substance,
in this country and for all.
The one keeps you focussed on management change,
incidental corruption not the system’s structures,
the other says, look at the house: the walls, stairs, floors, windows and doors,
and says, tell me which race and which classes needs a house restructured.
If you believe that inequity, domination,
keeps you safe, healthy and free,
you are, I submit, terribly mistaken,
dare I say, short-sighted, afraid and sadly quite weak.
Fear not though, the biggest betrayal comes from the höer klasse, so-called liberals or centrists at home,
people who claim to want a just system but only in their way,
centring still, white and black buddies, a minority preference rather than what should be a majority choice.
Are you worried they’ll be no future place for you,
I have been worried, I feel it too,
hey look, brown and white laer klas kids stand on common ground.
Maybe we need to share our vulnerability, more honestly,
our black brothers and sisters, can hear our post-apartheid sound.
But what’s not appropriate though,
is to hold hostage a majority “them”,
expecting a just system, just outcomes should be compromised, avoided,
because justice makes “us” uncomfortable, a select few we’d rather condemn.
The cost to our elites,
cannot take precedence,
whatever our frustrations or fear,
if we truly believe we are civilised and just, our focus should be on policy evidence.
Undoubtedly, it is not their job to place our fears,
at the top of their priority list,
when race, class, systemic injustice continues, built in,
they’re still for centuries more at risk.
For those sincere, we must process our grief, a rippling racial trauma, over and over again,
until we can separate what is truly just,
from our feelings, minority self-preference, privileged protections,
theirs is a long road, which cannot be subsumed by our fears at this stage.
For those insincere, the laer klasse who frown,
where’s free speech when we’re racist?
I ask, why would you want to be racist?
Are you so dead inside that feelings only come from being a sadist?
What about culture? Our culture?
We’re different, too different, we’re special, we’re more,
we can’t be expected to mingle, be led,
be culturally aligned with the economic “majority horde”.
They’re victimising us,
I say, “us”, you sure? Us is a wholly wide word.
There’s a wholescale reverse racism,
whenever I don’t get a job, a university entry or,
perhaps a smile from the domestic worker,
And there’s the nugget, the class betrayal once more,
some of us minorities of the laer klasse are so desperate to be victims of racism,
we’d cut out our own kidney,
just so we can claim: look what they did, black hatred.
But many laer klasse won’t push back on the education system,
when Cape Town minorities sell black students in cages for fun,
when accusations that teachers were role-modelling racist,
the potential endemic disease, we deliberately shun,
turning what should be mental disease eradication,
into an incidental annual distraction, our winning elation.
We won’t talk about years of undeclared white minority affirmative action,
brown minorities too,
how mostly hoër klasse slide into positions,
former alumna bias, big business or political Daddy,
a preferred potential donor, client or system influence,
or the deleting of black CVs, firing black workers,
because the demographic majority, the laer klas disgust you,
losing court cases is too painful,
sure sounds like deliberate impoverishment, mass exclusion,
reminiscent of those “good ol’ days”,
the demographic majority growing pissed,
our leads placing the blame solely on their management ways,
when they accuse “us” of economic apartheid, minority domination,
you’ll pretend we, “us”, are wholly innocent,
no room for total responsibility resulting in their decimation.
Then, there’s the years long equating not-white people,
and just about all women with “incompetent”,
suggesting diversity automatically means,
you’re the department idiot.
What did that headline say in 2017,
“We are running out of whites”,
Geez Louise, and in a country that is what? 85% NOT-white,
sure, makes total sense, no need to fight.
Shall I also tell you about the höer klass seun,
the wit laaitie, a rowing champ from elite university,
who took my work research,
and sent it to the client under his name, a real weenie,
and when I told my boss,
she said “these things happen”, that’s their game.
but my vagina, my brown skin, makes me the target,
worse, if you’re born laer klas,
from schools they’ve never heard of,
then conveniently, you’re the threat,
not a blessing doing most of the work, told to work harder.
Kan jy nog sien? Or is this not enough?
when class betrayal has been your African standard,
a banner you’ll stand behind,
ons laerklas gesin aim knives at our backs, not random.
No wonder, red berets have had enough,
of our nonsense, our duplicitous muck.
All lives matter. Psych! Just kidding.
We suck!
Making matters worse are those who exploit,
who massage your obvious worries, your fear,
laying on thick, butter on toast,
how awful blackness, laer klas is when they’re near.
After the last forty years of redistributed wealth from the poor and middle to the top 1%, they now denounce as “wealth redistribution” when people want to redistribute in the opposite direction. The richest 1% only want one-way redistribution. – Richard D. Wolff8
The elites will blur the sliding scale of class between you,
and tell you what they believe you want to hear,
white lives matter variety,
not equally, of course,
don’t ask what they mean by neutrality,
or whether the laer klasse get a veto vote.
They need you more than you need them,
but dare you figure that out,
you may stop treating ryk seuns as cute demi-Gods,
and start questioning the economic layout.
They will give you an enemy,
always someone economically closer to you,
first, swart nou rooi gevaar,
add black immigrants or visibly poor Arab “terrorists” from far,
not our own training camps teaching eugenicist ideas,
“smaller brains equals black people”,
local militarism cannot be domestic terrorism, their PR spins hurting my ears.
Politically, it’s only the ANC or maybe a faction,
Russia, China, tomorrow it’ll be India or Taiwan.
Not the system, never them in crisp suits,
tongues of articulate routes,
friends, higher ups,
planned obsolescence ignored,
we’re not going to mention the geopolitical wars,
those aligned that conspired to illegally bury Assange indoors.
A capitalist rooted government is fundamentally a business-run government. While non-market rooted interests do exist such as educational policy, abortion rights and so forth, they are vastly overshadowed, directly and indirectly altered by market incentives, market forces and the vested power interests related. [It is the] Vested market interests and market incentives that forever sabotage hope for any true democratic effect in government. Just consider the structure of business itself. Firstly, is it democratic? Obviously not, it is a hierarchical command structure with power and control moving from the top down, with loyalty and submission moving from the bottom up, rooted mind you in a scarcity-based game, which requires the use of multiple levels of strategic exploitation and manipulation in the game of competition, which translates into being not only a strict power hierarchy, it is a predatory power hierarchy. And yet, as obvious as it should be people have been conditioned to not see it…What you find is the whole thing is held together by slogans and jingles, and a general superficiality that isn’t based on evidence but rather half-truths, dangerous half-truths that sound like they make sense but actually do not. Slogans like, “you get what you work for” sound like it makes sense but doesn’t account for system influence.9
Vote, support whoever you want,
but try harder to let go of your blinkers,
I know times have changed,
but that’s life,
a growing phase,
and your frustrations are easily immense,
but be brave.
we care for you, we do,
we, I, care. I know what happened to our class, to you,
however, we can’t drag you laer klas broers to the street table,
while you’re sitting on the stoep like a good pet, ready to still serve meester and enable.
- Sasol: Profits from Poison by Ferrial Adam, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, November 2010, earthlife.org.za ↩︎
- Boëttger, J.F., Rathbone M…The Marikana Massacre, Labour and Capitalism: towards a Ricoeurian alternative. Koers (online) [online] 2016, vol. 81, n.3 [cited 2024-08-30], pp 1-7, available from www.scielo.org.za ↩︎
- George Padmore, Whiter workers v Black,Controversy, Vol. 2, No. 20, May 1938 ↩︎
- Remembering the Marikana Massacre: Demanding justice and accountability, Saleh Mamon, Jul 2022, londonminingnetwork.org ↩︎
- We need to talk about wage theft, Khwezi Mabasa, Dominic Brown, Dec 2022, africasacountry.com ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- 10 Feb 2019, Richard D. Wolff (author of Democracy at work: A Cure for Capitalism), social media post on X ↩︎
- Peter Joseph, author: The New Human Rights Movement: Reinventing the economy to overcome oppression, Episode 50, Revolution Now! with Peter Joseph podcast ↩︎
*Mense – People
*Van – Of
*Die laer klasse – The lower classes
*Leef – Life
*Braai – Barbeque
*Werkersklas – Working class
*Hoër klasse – Upper classes
*Ryk seuns – Rich boys
*“Rof en tof” – “Rough and tumble”
*Broer– Brother
*Boet – Brother
*Klas – class
*Kan jy regtig – Can you really
*Wit – White
*Oos Rand – East Rand
*Wit woeste – White ferocious
*Polisie – Police
*Boer – Afrikaner or farmer
*Suster – Sister
*Ja-broer – Yes-man
*Jy dink – You think
*Nog ‘n wit seun – Another white boy
*My swaer – My brother-in-law
*Ek is nie jou wrede proliteriaat – I am not your brutal or cruel proletariat
*Sukkel – Struggle
*Maat – Mate
*Kan jy nog sien? – Can you still or yet see?
*Laaitie – young person, normally male
*Gesin – Family
*Politiek – Politics
*Swart nou rooi gevaar – Black now red (socialist/communist) danger
*Stoep – Front veranda
*Meester – Master