| Summary: | There is a common electoral sentiment amongst the majority black South Africans that voting
for the right [ANC] political party is a vote for total freedom while restraining a return of the proverbial
Egyptian experience. The concept of decolonizing the mind is a complex phenomenon. Decolonization
is a term used when referring to the undoing of oppression/colonialism, where a nation had established
and maintained its domination over dependent territories. Colonialism is therefore a model of
imperialism, understood as the domination involving the oppression of one people by another. South
Africa had a vibrant liberation organisations championed by the ANC as a means to politically
decolonize South African electorates. However, the minds of the people that have hitherto been
politically colonized seem to have been moulded by the political elites to accept and propagate the ideas
of the liberation organisations. Thus eroding the honour of having a free mind to choose which political
idea is the most appropriate. Using public opinion measures to evaluate the relationship between
different measures of direct political participation and why the electorates vote for a particular party,
this study explains the prevailing existence of politically colonized South Africa society from the stand
point of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s work; “Decolonizing the mind; the politics of language in African
literature.” This study discovered that the ballot from the standpoint of South African electorates does
not promote de-colonialism, but rather prevent a return to the old proverbial Egyptian experience by
default. Covertly, and by choice; this abnormal situation has made the South African electorates to think
that division is more important than their unity. Decolonizing the mind is therefore central to
recognizing and striving for unity while aiming for inclusive socio-economic policies that breeds
inclusive development.
|
|---|
