Motshekga says Karl Marx got African kings wrong

Professor Mathole Motshekga says communists wrongly use Karl Marx’s views on European monarchies to attack African kings and queens, writes Celani Sikhakhane in Royals Mzansi.

Professor Mathole Motshekga says communists are wrong to use Karl Marx’s ideas to reject African kings and queens.

The Bolabedu royal elder said Marx never visited Africa and based his views on European rulers and political systems.

“African kingdoms are more spiritual and they are not feudal,” Motshekga told Scrolla.Africa.

Feudalism was a system where powerful landowners controlled land and poor people worked for them.

Motshekga said this did not describe the role of African royal leaders.

“They are divine leaders. Feudalism is a Western thing. African royals were never feudal,” he said. “You can’t come to us with Karl Marx’s thoughts when he was never in Africa in his whole life.”

Motshekga said Africans should learn more about their own culture, history and traditional leadership.

“We want our people to go back to their roots and know who they are as Africans,” he said.

Marx believed monarchs and other rulers who gained power through their families helped protect rich and powerful groups.

Communist parties have used these ideas to oppose kings and queens whose power is passed down through families.

The South African Communist Party believes political leaders should be elected and held responsible by the public.

However, it still works with South Africa’s traditional leaders on land and community matters.

The communist parties in South Africa and Eswatini have also campaigned against King Mswati III’s rule.

They want Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, to become a democracy where leaders are elected.

Motshekga believes African kingdoms cannot be judged using ideas created to explain European rulers.

Pictured above: Communist parties in South Africa and Eswatini have long campaigned against King Mswati III’s rule.

Image source: SACP/Facebook