Collaboration, Complicity and “Selling-Out” in South African Historiography

Abstract

Present discourses among BC adherents infer to the postapartheid South African social order as a “sell-out.” In this chapter, I trace the etymological, ideological and political roots of the term “sell-out.” I argue that this is a complex, multidimensional term, whose usage and meaning is contingent to prevailing socio-political conditions of any given time. In its universality, it transcends space and time but finds acute expression in South African political historiography. Since collaboration and “selling-out” have defined South African liberation politics, I find it opportune to ask and seek answers to these questions: Who is and what are the dimensions of a “sell-out?” What is that they sell? What is the morality behind the allegations? Why are black people penchant on “selling-out” their own kindred? Why do people engage in “selling-out,” collaboration and complicity? Who has the power to label another a “sell-out”?