Kingdom-o-meter

Dumi Molefe | Monday July 30, 2012 00:00

The story is so regular it should be less interesting by now. But this is a story of people's lives. It is a story of the landless in their own land! It is indeed a story of the dead-living and not the living-dead as the latter are the ancestors. The concept of dead-living must be understandable within both the Hebrew and Setswana traditions.One is dead in the Hebrew understanding not only clinically.

One who has nothing to his or her name is dead. Life is interactive. Life is life lived with. Living-with is not only about other like-beings, but with the totality of God's creation. Remember 'The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof' (Psalm 24:1). Living-with is about interacting with things that make life worth being lived. It is about having access to means of livelihood. Without such means one is dead.In Setswana we have a saying, 'motlhoka sa gagwe ke mokang o suleng.' That is, one who has or owns nothing is as good as a dead. It points to the same Hebrew human-material interaction concept. Botho as a religious concept points to relationality. John Mbiti's syllogistical argument leads to the conclution that Botho is about 'ê relate therefore I am', unlike Rene Descartes' cogito ego sum; 'I think, therefore I am.' For Mbiti Motho is a relating or relational thing not a thinking thing, hence in Setswana we rightly say Motho ke Motho ka Batho. This relationality goes beyond human relationship because such relationships happen within other wider non-human relationships' interactions with humans'. One cannot, not have unless they are not in relationship. The question is what kind of relationships do we have in this country that relegates some to a state that is lower than mere existence, a state of non-clinical death?

Another concept, a biblical one that points to our dance with death is widowhood. The Greek word used in the New Testament for widow is 'chera'.  This word actually denotes one without. It refers to a state of neediness; it can also refer to the state of being alone, a condition of deprivation! Those without material relationship, the poor among us live in the midst of death. For them death is a bedfellow. Those who cannot be in relation with property relate with death!

I visited Ramaphatle on Tuesday morning and came face-to-face with death. Death was in the air, I could see, feel, and touch it. Death was written all over the faces of people; both whose houses had been destroyed and those whose houses were intact. The first thing I heard was 'tota gatwe re ye go lala kae?' There was pain coming out with that question. It was asked, not because the one asking expected an answer from me. It was a case of hopelessness and dejection. I heard many versions of the state of affairs; I heard truths and half truths. But in all these were the truth in terms of the 'Beness' of the people. I was walking among the dead-living. I wondered if Ezekiel felt the same as he traversed The Valley of Dry bones!

There is no doubt that some of the people whose houses have been yellow-monstered were occupying the land illegally. I have asked in the past and would continue to ask if poverty has been criminalised in this country without criminalising structures that creates it. Why are the poor more susceptible to breaking laws governing land use and ownership? The issue is not whether or not these people are on the wrong side of the law. I still remember specific pieces of land cited in a land commission which were either occupied illegally or used for purposes other than those prescribed by the law.

One of them hosts one of the malls, yet, the powers that be considered that the written law should not necessarily be the end-all and the be-all! We need to at times consider that ethical principles should take precedence over legal interpretation. And mark my word; interpretation! Students of Biblical hermeneutics know very well that interpretation is not a given, we approach any text laden with meanings. Legal statutes are no different! In his obituary to Rre David Mhiemang, Rampholo Molefhe rightly observes that 'ethics are larger than law. Law kneels down to the class interests of the powerful people in society...' (Mmegi 27 July 2012. Vol 29, no. 110).

These powerful (words) could be the wealthy, those who sit in land boards, parliament, or those who yield any kind of power, even that of interpretation. These should embrace the supremacy of justice as an ethical virtue.  We need to realign our relationships if we are serious about compassion and justice in this land. Justice is a relational issue. How we relate should not turn a blind eye to our varied non-human relationships. The way we treat the poor should reflect this differentiations, even in terms of our interpretation of the law. Some legal mind help me out here! Where do we throw the mitigating factor key when we prosecute the poor?

Where do we throw the key of common good of the society. The law is only as just as it is interpreted, even the seemingly most just piece of legislation cannot be inherently good on its own.The key is the justice-intent in the interpreter, be it the prosecutor or judge. In any case who said prosecutors cannot stand for justice. It is time we go to the crossroads where we lost our life-affirming justice way. It is time we introspect as a nation and together - civil society, politicians; ruling and opposition, legal fraternity - positively rethink our relationships.  Only then can the dry bones in numerous valleys of death come back to life, thus enabling us to be the nation we envision by 2016 and beyond. To God be the glory!