Njabulo Ndebele: From Rediscovering the ‘Ordinary’ to Redefining South African ‘Renaissance’

Abstract

NJABULO NDEBELE WAS one of few black South African writers renowned worldwide as an intellectual before end of apartheid; he continues today to write and reflect upon culture, in particular on relationship between literature and politics. Each generation in twentieth century had its intellectuals. This began with critics such as R.R.R. Dhlomo and Sol Plaatje, through Drum generation with Nkosis and Mphahleles. Black Consciousness took over in 1970s with influence of Steve Biko and Pascal Gwala. Ndebele himself was of a slightly later generation and a slightly different category; he was very much involved in magazine Staffrider and in 1987 became President of Congress of South African Writers. Parallel with his creative and literary career, Ndebele also pursued a prestigious academic path. Pro-Vice-Chancellor of National University of Lesotho, Head of African Literature Department at University of Witwatersrand, Vice-Chancellor of University of North, Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Town, he had an 'extraordinary' knowledge of South African academia, which is evident in his essays.It was Ndebele himself who referred to term 'ordinary' as far back as 1984 when he presented a keynote address at conference on Writing in Africa: Continuity and Change, held at Commonwealth Institute in London. address, The Rediscovery of Ordinary: Some New Writings in South Africa, was, in 1991, included in a Congress of South African Writers' publication entitled Rediscovery of Ordinary: Essays on South African Literature and Culture} In eight essays and an appendix, Ndebele here explores present and future of black South African writing and culture; these essays and call for writers to explore everyday lives of black South Africans were, at time, a revelation and were discussed at length by many prominent intellectuals and critics.2 What, in fact, does Ndebele say about 'ordinary' in his earlier work but also in his latest collection of essays, entitled Fine Lines from Box (2007)?3 How, if at all, has he interpreted this notion through his own fiction, in particular in Cry of Winnie Mandela (2003)? Writing a novel about Winnie Mandela is in itself emblematic of his confrontation of ordinary with extraordinary, of public with private, and of his effort to explain private failures in light of a South African renaissance.Published in 1991, after release of Nelson Mandela and negotiation between ANC and De Klerk, but before 1994 elections which gave power to black majority, individual essays in Rediscovery of Ordinary date mainly from 1980s. Judging from preface, but also from other pieces, main concern of Ndebele at this point in history is how to counter manipulation of black community by whites. preface, indeed, is quite surprising, in that Ndebele openly questions good faith of nationalist government in liberating Mandela:Suddenly nationalist government also proclaims 'human rights,' and 'non-racialism.' It now expresses concern about 'all our people'; declares its intention to 'redress imbalances,' and is determined to 'turn away from past.' (8)Given disastrous situation of vast masses of population, Ndebele considers that nationalist government is just manufacturing the illusion of freedom in order to hold on to their own power. He also underlines complexity of a situation in which blacks have effectively been denied the resounding defeat of an enemy. Bastille has not been stormed (9).The confusion caused in 1991 by Afrikaner government's concessions can be linked with another even more insidious manipulation dealt with in 'Turkish Tales, a piece written in 1983. In this text Ndebele points out that reception of information in South Africa by blacks under apartheid was necessarily skewed in one of two ways depending on whether it was furnished by regime - in which case it was more than suspect - or by white liberal press or institutions - when it was acceptable. …