Expert urges wealthy black people to seek black conscious spaces

Social rights activist, feminist and Executive Director of Oxfam, Lebo Ramafoko, says it’s important for black people to seek spaces where they build black consciousness.

She emphasises that black men in particular need to have conversations with young men about what it means to be a man.

According Ramafoko, this will help remedy the issues that have come at a great cost for this community due to upward mobility.

Her comments come at the back of a conversation, which was sparked by a video of a young opinionated popular TikToker, Lethabo Maluke.

In it, the young man addresses the alleged bad behaviour of young and rich boys, who are referred to as North Boys.

Maluke says he isn’t shocked by the allegations levelled against the son of renowned actress and businesswoman Sonia Mbele, Donell, who is accused of raping his 17-year-old partner.

The scandal is not a first for the 23-year-old. In 2022, his then-girlfriend laid charges of physical assault against him (GBV).

According to Maluke, young men like Donell behave in this manner as they have been raised in environments where they are taught to believe that they are better than everyone and they can use money to buy their way out of trouble.

 

Ramafoko says Maluke raises very important points, in his video, about what shapes a particular masculinity in society.

She believes he also provides a context of how young black people; particularly black men get shaped into members of society.

She’s slammed how society has normalised 60% of children growing up in fatherless homes.

She says this is evident in how the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) only names the 23-year-old’s mother but says nothing about the father.

“You realise that this boy, young man is a symptom of a society that needs self-reflection. And so, for me as parents we also need to ask ourselves as we acquire wealth, and we take our children to some of these schools who socialises them; what is the hidden curriculum?”

Regarding the point that Maluke makes about how ‘North boys’ are allegedly taught that money can buy them out of anything, Ramafoko says she isn’t certain if that was the case in Donell’s situation.

His mother has previously expressed her disappointment over GBV claims against him, saying she doesn’t condone such behaviour, and her son must face the consequences of his actions.

Ramafoko says part of the problem the country faces are the socialisation of these boys into a life that worships money above everything else and therefore treats women as a commodity.

She believes this is not only enforced by the classism that we see in modern-day South Africa but is made worse by social media.