South Africa is now into the second decade of liberation, and represents a classical example of the complex nature of complementing political liberation with economic freedom for the majority of its Black population. Undoubtedly, significant milestones have been achieved in addressing the national issues of transformation, community development and Black Economic Empowerment through government intervention (legislation and various programs), as well as the efforts of countless organizations of civil society, the public sector and some elements of the private sector. But to the majority of Black South Africans, the miracle of 1994 has yet to manifest itself in a form of tangible improvements in their day-to-day material lives.

While other minority population groups are flourishing (in current great economic times) as nett winners and major benefactors of the post 1994 prospering South Africa, the intended beneficiaries of freedom and liberation from the crimes of apartheid – the Black majority population – are nett losers, drowning in untold misery, including chronic unemployment, abject poverty, pandemic diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB, and a future that is getting dimmer by the day. Yes, a few among these Blacks have benefited from freedom and liberation - the so-called Black Diamonds, the BEE class and BEE elite, but they represent a very small minority of the Black population. Their profile in society is deliberately exaggerated, and if anything, they are an exception rather than the rule. However, collectively, these Black beneficiaries of liberation and freedom represent a small step in what is undoubtedly a journey of a thousand miles.

Their achievements are an important milestone towards the economic inclusion of Blacks in the ownership and control of the South African economy. To the extent that they share a simple and yet powerful principle with the rest of other Blacks, that it is possible to realize our dreams, they should be encouraged to serve as role models for our people. But as soon as they are used by the establishment, or allow themselves to be used as gate-keepers and to perpetuate the continued exclusion of their Brothers and Sister from gaining economic freedom, they should be shamed and named for what they really are …(what Malcolm X referred to as) “House Niggers”, who were used to by slave holders to participate in the brutal suppression of the rest of the “Field Niggers” who were toiling in the plantations. And when the master’s house was in fire, these “House Niggers” would come running to their masters crying “Master, master … our house is burning”.

No analogy could as apt in describing the conduct of many of our Black Brothers and Sister in present day South Africa! The recent mushrooming of violent protests against the ‘slow pace’ of service delivery across the country, as well as a wave of industrial action by workers, are, in spite of pronouncements of “instigation” and allegations of a “third force”, indicative of the fact that the Black majority, who see themselves not as nett winners of their hard-won freedom, but as nett losers, are not prepared to accept their current status quo any longer. They are staking the claim of what ‘rightfully belong to them” … the economic fruits of freedom and liberation. Let us not fool ourselves here! These protests, and many ills we experience in the country today, including high and violent forms of crime, are symptoms of deep-rooted causes … the continued and deliberate exclusion of the Black majority from the ownership and control of the economy, and their continued condemnation to colonial-era status of providers of labour only!

Left unchecked, this malicious and deliberate exclusion of Blacks from the economy is pushing our country onto a fast descent into lawlessness and anarchy! Let it be know to all and sundry … one of the fundamental pre-condition for our democracy to thrive and South Africa to work is a just, fair and demographically equitable distribution of wealth among its population, and the unconditional inclusion of Black South Africans in the ownership and control of the economy. You exclude them at your own peril! As Black South Africans, we are at the cross roads today! History is presenting us with a rare opportunity since the collapse of the Great Nubian Civilization thousands of years ago … to break now with our past colonial status as labourers and consumers only and shatter our image as a culpable race, an ‘insolvent debtor’ and a liability to other races of the world, and be masters of our own destiny! It cannot be ‘business as usual’ any longer ! We have reached the tipping point … and the time to act is now!

Joint Turning Point now, a new national economic, social and cultural movement of Black South African, that does what ought to have long happened in this country, namely, to challenge Blacks to be masters of their own destiny and take their rightful place, above all, in the ownership and control of the country’s economy. What can I do as an individual? Yes, we've heard it so many times (you can’t beat the system)! What can you do as an individual? Yet, therein lies the answer. It is in the Power of Numbers, the Sum of Us (as a collective of individual Blacks) that we can deal deadly blows to the crime of the continued and deliberate economic exclusion of Black people! The collective might of all Black South Africans, the sheer weight of our numbers (one needs to look at all previous election results since 1994)), is by far our single most important strategic and competitive advantage, and a tool to tackle our current economic conditions. Why can't we use it?

Join Turning Point , and be part of a fast growing national movement that is destined to consign economic exclusion, abject poverty, unemployment, diseases, disintegration of our Black communities and the general rot in our society into the rubbish bin of history! We have reached the “Turning Point”, Join now!