Political parties the world over use slogans, icons, colours, names and flags to establish their political and historical credentials. What happens when two political parties lay claim to the same history and the same symbolic capital?
In South Africa, a conflict of this kind is being played out between the governing African National Congress (ANC) party led by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the breakaway party Umkhonto weSizwe, (MK Party) associated with former president Jacob Zuma.
At the centre of the fight between the rival parties is the word “mayibuye”, which has been deployed as an election slogan for the MK Party. Mayibuye is a word in South Africa’s isiXhosa language which can be translated as “may it return” or “may it be restored”. Made popular by the ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa over 100 years ago, it is still widely used in songs and as a slogan for liberation.
