Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦

Proudly African .................

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

@MightiJamie DUMISANI KHUMALO

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

@BabaNajma38990 @sadeeq_wali @FreyaNorthnyot @grok According to you , everything that TRUMP says is true , indeed, , you are biased.

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

@Jindo_1307979 R

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

@Kgosientsho_R Mr Load reduction.

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

https://t.co/zWF9RhVq98

[Shenge° @buthelezimag1]

@CrimeWatch_RSA @AdvoBarryRoux please assist and draw their attention to #SenzoMeyiwatrial because that Judge Ratha seems to be part of the drama that was script written by Gininda there! He keeps confusing the records for when he makes a ruling he will rely on those twisted facts! Please

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

@DonaldTrumpnq A A A A A A A

[Tumi Sole @tumisole]

Protect General Mkhwanazi at all costs 🇿🇦

#HandsoffGeneralMkhwanazi

[Helen Zille @helenzille]

We are not there to be used as voting fodder to prop up the ANC. https://t.co/ywWl6wOarJ

[Andile Gogoda @AfricaisBlack]

Who is Julius Malema and what makes him different from other politicians in South Africa?

[African @ali_naka]

If China, Russia, North Korea and the global south nations do NOT stop the United States, we will NEVER know peace !!

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

Check out Zena's video! #TikTok https://t.co/Nu55YdbKty

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

Check out Cape Conscious Media's video! #TikTok https://t.co/qBfHeCktdV

[Sizwe SikaMusi @SizweLo]

Between October 1990 and July 1994, Rwanda went through a civil war between the Rwandan government, dominated by the Hutu ethnic group and the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebel group (RPF), made up of the Tutsi ethnic group.

The Rwandan Civil War culminated with various Hutu militias systematically massacring members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group. Despite this, the civil war ended with victory for the Tutsi RPF, which assumed control of the country’s government ever since.

The end of the civil war meant Rwanda came under the control of the Tutsi minority, who make up just over 10% of the population. It's very important to note that a Tutsi minority government was not new to Rwanda. Before 1962, when Rwanda gained independence from European colonialists, it was governed and controlled by the Tutsis.

Before European colonialism, Rwanda was largely linguistically and culturally homogeneous, divided into three groups: Hutu (~88%), Tutsi (~11%), and Twa (1%). So, even though there were differences between the three groups, the people in the region considered themselves similar.

According to historian Professor Mahmood Mamdani, the Hutus were distinguishable by their “standard Bantu physical aspects.” On the other hand, the Tutsi had a distinct appearance. They were described as “extremely tall and thin, and often displaying sharp, angular facial features”.

Outside of these physical differences, all Rwandans practised the same religion, spoke the same language, intermarried, and lived on the same hills without territorial distinctions, sharing the same social and political culture. Academics agree these identities “could not properly be called distinct ethnic groups”.

Regarding governance, the Tutsi were the military elite, and “the kings were all Tutsi”, while the Hutu were spiritual advisors to the kings—one of the most crucial positions in the state structure. In essence, for centuries, the Rwandan state combined Hutu supernatural powers with Tutsi military powers with the Hutu spiritual advisors limiting the king’s authority.

However, by the late 1700s, Tutsi kings were determined to free themselves from the spiritual advisors’ restrictions and continually undermined and gradually diluted the Hutu position in the state structure.

As power increasingly became concentrated among the Tutsi, the political and social position of the Hutu was progressively degraded. Yet, the relationship between Hutu and Tutsi was far from polarised as there were still military and administrative systems which provided avenues for Hutu participation in the State.

Still, by the end of the 1800s, the Hutu spiritual advisors had been so weakened that Tutsi ruling elites could afford to publicly demonstrate how little they cared for their rituals. At this time, the Tutsis introduced mandatory work which they imposed exclusively on the Hutu, marking this as a symbol of Tutsi dominance.

Tutsi power surged in the late 1800s with the rise of anti-Hutu kings, known as Tutsi mwamis. Throughout this period, the Hutu became increasingly subjugated to the Tutsi power. This reality can be interpreted as a source of Tutsi-Hutu hostilities before colonialism.

After the Berlin Conference divided the continent in 1884/5, Europeans began colonising Rwanda. First were the Germans. When they arrived in Rwanda, they discovered a politically sophisticated and centralised kingdom dominated by the Tutsi Kings. This centralist State was good for the Germans, so they put their weight behind the Tutsi ruling minority.

The Germans were happy with Tutsi-dominated Rwanda because it made their colonial work easy. For instance, in 1914, there were only 96 Europeans in Rwanda, including missionaries. This also meant that the German presence did not have a significant impact on Rwandan society.

However, German control of Rwanda was relatively short (1897-1916). In 1916, Belgium displaced Germany and overthrew the Tutsi Rwandan kingdom. However, just like the Germans before them, the Belgians favoured the Tutsi.

The Belgians viewed the Tutsi as a superior, alien race descended from Hamitic invaders, while they described the Hutu as indigenous Bantu farmers. This racialisation was institutionalised through education, administration, and the Church, with the Tutsi being favoured as a ruling elite.

The Church played a key role in promoting Tutsi supremacy, while the colonial State reinforced this hierarchy through administrative reforms and forced labour systems like the Tutsi-created ubureetwa, which exploited the Hutu majority.

Church clerics opened Rwanda’s first Western-style school in 1905. Their main target was the sons of Tutsi chiefs. The goal was to transform the Tutsi, Rwanda’s “born rulers", into an elite capable of implementing progress and assisting both missionaries and colonial administrations.

Furthermore, the Europeans established a clear distinction between Tutsi and Hutu. The Hutu were portrayed as backward and uncivilised “savage negros”, while the Tutsi were depicted as Hamitic pastoral civilisers originating in Ethiopia who had conquered and subjugated local Bantu people, instilling civilisational values.

Belgian colonisers prioritised racial education, which reached a peak in 1930. Tutsis and Hutus were educated using different systems. The Tutsi received a superior education, taught in French in a separate stream. This was to prepare Tutsis for administrative positions in colonial Rwanda. Hutu people received a limited education in Kiswahili, which could be considered inferior.

In 1933, Belgium ran a census which legally codified the Tutsi and Hutu identities, freezing social mobility between the groups. This racialisation created a volatile dynamic, with the Tutsi being seen as Hamitic alien rulers and the Hutu as the indigenous majority.

While Belgian rule branded the Tutsi as not indigenous, on the one hand, it consolidated Tutsi privilege on the other. It made chiefship the sole domain of the Tutsi with the authority of the chief accountable to none but the colonial power. Further down, it exempted ordinary Tutsis from forced labour. It is precisely because colonialism supported Tutsi privilege that the Tutsi embraced the racialisation of their own identity as non-indigenous.

The Tutsi were considered superior to the Hutu due to their heritage as Hamites and were therefore favoured and supported by the European foreigners. During colonial rule, the situation was beneficial to the Tutsi, but when it ended, the Tutsi faced significant challenges. The Hutu used these points to justify their later attacks.

The European racialisation of Rwanda also entered the local administration, concentrating most functions in a single hand. Because in the previous system, the State exercised its authority by delegating powers to various chiefs, the Hutus had the opportunity to influence power dynamics.

However, following the Belgian reforms, this opportunity was lost, and power concentrated solely in the hands of favoured Tutsis. Tutsi hegemony was undeniable from then on, fueling resentment among the Hutu people.

Despite their disadvantages, after World War II, a Hutu counterelite emerged, from three main sources: the precolonial elite in the north, migrant labour experiences in Congo and Uganda, and Western education. This group, frustrated by their exclusion from power and social mobility, began to challenge Tutsi dominance.

The 1950s saw the rise of political parties like PARMEHUTU (Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement) and APROSOMA (Association for the Social Promotion of the Masses), which sought to challenge Tutsi dominance and advocate for Hutu rights.

APROSOMA was a genuinely populist party aimed at the poor, Hutu and Tutsi. However, as Prof Mamdani writes, “In the rapidly polarising context of Rwanda in 1959, where power was Tutsi and the insurrection Hutu, it could not retain its original identity: Since most Hutu were poor and the vast majority of poor were Hutu, the party ended up as a primarily Hutu party”.

This development caused a deterioration in relations between the two indigenous groups. While the Tutsi leadership wanted quick independence to consolidate their power, the Hutu elite advocated for transferring power from Tutsi to Hutu.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church, initially a supporter of Tutsi supremacy, shifted its stance, with some clergy supporting Hutu grievances.

To accommodate Hutu demands and address inequalities, the Belgian colonial government introduced reforms such as the abolition of forced labour and the redistribution of cattle. However, These reforms, while symbolic, did little to dismantle Tutsi privilege.

In 1959, everything hit the fan with the Rwandan Revolution which began with widespread violence against Tutsi chiefs and local authorities, leading to the dismantling of local Tutsi power. Belgium supported the Hutu uprising by replacing Tutsi chiefs with Hutu appointees.

In 1961, Hutu leaders abolished the monarchy and declared a republic, effectively transferring power from the Tutsi elite to the Hutu majority.

Prof Mamdani asserts that APROSOMA failed because “Tutsi privilege and Tutsi wealth were not the same thing. Although the wealthy were a minority among the Tutsi, Tutsi privilege was a legal/political arrangement that affected all Tutsi”.

The First Republic was established in 1962. It was ideologically driven, emphasising Hutu power and the exclusion of Tutsi from political life. The Tutsi were considered a "race" and were confined to the civic sphere, and barred from political participation.

This administration faced criticism for failing to address Hutu grievances in civil society, particularly in education and employment. Its focus on political power without corresponding social reforms led to growing discontent among the Hutu population.

The Second Republic, led by Juvénal Habyarimana, emerged after a bloodless coup in 1973. Habyarimana redefined the Tutsi from a "race" to an "ethnicity," integrating them into the political sphere but limiting their participation to a scope befitting their minority status.

The Second Republic implemented policies aimed at redressing historical wrongs through affirmative action, particularly in education and employment while also also emphasising development and reconciliation.

Naturally, because equality feels like oppression to those accustomed to privilege, the successive Hutu governments felt repressive and even "brutal" to the Tutsi elites.

So, despite the Second Republic which came to power in 1973 achieving significant economic growth, the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front could not accept Hutu majority rule, so it invaded in 1990, and as they say, the rest is history.

Mamdani, M. (2001) When victims become killers: Colonialism, nativism, and the genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

[MDN NEWS @MDNnewss]

EFF Leader Julius Malema Addresses Students in a Thought-Provoking Lecture at Rhodes University https://t.co/xAjozmyRbM

[Carl Niehaus @niehaus_carl]

As always my dear friend and fellow comrade, the People’s Poet, #MzwakheMbuli, speaks the hard, undiluted, truth through his poetry and music …

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

@realnorma_kay

[Sentletse 🇿🇦🇷🇺🇵🇸🇱🇧 @Sentletse]

ANC is declining in Mpumalanga as more come in.

They could be left with only 3 provinces.

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

@MbalulaFikile Better life for only ANC members1

[Dudu “Grenade” Zuma-Sambudla @DZumaSambudla]

How Does @IECSouthAfrica Explain Ballot Papers Arriving At The Library In The Back Of A Meat Truck In Maphumulo Earlier This Evening? Police Have Been Alerted And Are On Their Way!!!

Doesn’t @IECSouthAfrica Have Official Vehicles?

#Nightshift

[Khandalethu🇿🇦🇿🇦 @msayi1]

@CyrilRamaphosa Ramsa is campaigning....is too late sir!