Critically Debating 'Ubuntu' and 'Black Tax' in Zimbabwe

 A Brief Presentation to the 2021 African American  History Month Online Commemorative Event 

As Organised by LitFest Harare and  US Embassy Zimbabwe

Wednesday 10 March 2021.

By Takura Zhangazha*

Let me begin by thanking Litfest Harare and the US Embassy’s American Spaces for inviting me to this very important online discussion to commemorate Black History month for 2021. It is always a great pleasure to meet and share ideas on key issues as they relate to historical and contemporary experiences of black lives. Not only in the United States of America but broadly in the Diaspora and also particularly in Zimbabwe.  And to do so together with other panelists such as the eminent Zimbabwean feminist Bella Matambanadzo as well as prominent poets and musicians. 

In addressing the topic given by the organizers of "Expressing Ubuntu vs Black Tax" it is important to define the key terms under consideration.

My perspective on for example ‘Ubuntu’ or alternatively ‘hunhu’ is as generally understood to mean that we exist with a consciousness and concern for the welfare of all other human beings in our respective societies. Be they within our immediate community, country but also even where they are across our continent or in the world. 

It is however a term that has various meanings for various people.  In a number of cases it has tended to either be viewed in highly individualistic terms in assuming that it quite literally focuses on individual behavior in society. As opposed to creating a collective value framework in our politics, economics and other social relations.  It has also been viewed as a traditional philosophical approach that talks to Africa and black identity which however is far from the periphery of what is considered the better ‘modern’ ways of life.  Though oft times it is instrumentalised by political leaders to lay claim to populist uniqueness while concealing their true repressive intentions.

I would hazard to argue that while Ubuntu does not strictly speaking represent an ideological outlook in the contemporary, it most certainly, by inference would be close to a democratic socialism framework.  One in which the intention of perpetually recognizing the human equality of each other regardless of race, colour or class in political economic and social spheres remains a collective obligation of our communities, countries and international relations. 

So I tend to look at the term Ubuntu in very clear ideological terms in our contemporary lives.

Where we turn to the issue of ‘Black Tax’, upon first encountering it I immediately asked myself the question whether there is a ‘white tax?’  Because it pre-supposes an opposite. I even watched an episode of a South African television series on Showmax of the same title.  And in it was clear that the inferred meaning of ‘Black Tax’ is the unofficial tax of the black African who has to look after their extended family.  And in most instances this black person is in the urban, having to deal with his mainly rural kinsfolk who look up to him for monetary support for basic amenities such as education, food and also paying other rural taxes. Or coming to live with them in city against the wishes of the successful black urbanite.   But I will come back to the white tax issue a little later on.

Where we combine the question of Ubuntu versus the assumed black tax we are really questioning fundamentals of our Zimbabwean and also African societies.  Or our ways of living in post-colonial political economies where our cultural lifestyle where looking after the family or keeping the welfare of the village in mind as you undertake your economic activities was the norm rather than the exception.  With the advent of colonial modernization which included forced migration and forced labour to the urban, there was a tragic disruption of our ways of life that in part broke up these given cultural practices. And wherein traditional values or assumptions of the original ‘Ubuntu’ were institutionally denigrated and undermined with urban expansion and admiration of the urban consumer lifestyle. 

Hence the turn of phrase ‘black tax’ essentially refers to a burden on the assumedly more successful urban black person.  As they relate to their poorer, less economically successful black relatives who in most cases reside in the rural areas. 

I am persuaded that in the contemporary we need to review such an approach to what would be black families and how we consider the urban as the epitome of material success.  In other words we should not be complicit in the denigration of historical black tradition even if we live the ‘faster, individualized’ lives of the better parts of our cities. 

But more importantly where we consider Ubuntu as still integral to our being then  we must find ways in which we make it as pragmatic as possible for all of us.  This includes beginning the arduous process of creating a more humane Zimbabwean state that makes basic services such as education, health, transport, running water, food security and electricity available to all. Inclusive also of other human rights that relate to free expression, freedom of assembly/association and gender equality among many others that are justiciable.  Such an approach will not only make any assumptions of a black tax a thing of the past but it will also allow us to value our culture without envying the lives of the other. Or regrettably trying to wish away our still important extended families because we live and work in the post-colonial city.    

Finally let me return to what I wrote above as assuming that there’s a black tax, what would be its opposite?  Given the turn of phrase this would be the ‘white tax’.  With the key question being, does it exist?  Of course it does though it is rarely referred to as that.  And also that it is viewed as the normal or preferable form of tax that you pay to the state as PAYE. 

But there’s another angle to it here as it relates to the white family.  In this it normally takes on the form of working for inherited wealth/capital.  Both in the colonial past as in the post-colonial contemporary.  While keeping the family in mind.   It is also a historically privileged form of tax in our Zimbabwean context because of the legacies of wealth accumulation during colonialism as carried over into post independence Zimbabwe and how this type of 'white tax' is invariably considered to be different or materially better. But perhaps that is a topic for another day. 

*Takura Zhangazha spoke here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)