Speaker Johnson Kow-Tows To Emperor
Historical Context
We must kow-tow to the emperor, a state of affairs prevalent in old Hong Kong movies. Kow-tow might even be a Chinese word European traders ‘anglicized’ because they could not pronounce it. There were emperors in ancient China. They controlled land, man and beast. Therefore, everybody bowed down to the emperor.
Same with Africa, the king controlled land, man and beast. That is why there was something called -khonza, which means bow down to the king. The king controlled the land. He did not own it. He did not have a title deed. He held it in trust for the people. That is how the system of -khonza played out. Example. In the olden days, a family could be chased out, exiled for breaking certain traditional rules. The man would take his wives, children and livestock, cross rivers and mountains and go and ‘bow down’ to another king, who would give him a piece of land. That is -khonza. You say it like corn, and panza.
United States of America
They don’t have kings and emperors. The country is divided into states, ruled by elected officials, but all 50 states vote for the president every four years. Now, there are men and women who make their intention known that they would like to become emperor. Delete that. They want to be president, control the land - not own it - for the next four years. They can only win if they bow down (khonza) to voters.
In ancient China and Africa, the king controlled the land, in America, voters control it. Presidential nominees kow-tow to voters because they own the land. They vote to make the president caretaker, for the next four years. Period. Kow-tow to the emperor? Not in America.
Nonqaba waka Msimang
Blogger Without Borders
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