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Difference between ubuntu and dignity 231
A human being has dignity because she is a unique being born into the
human community, raised and supported there. For Kaunda, the keystone
for judging any society is whether the older people are respected. ‘The fact
that old people can no longer work, or are not as alert as they used to be, or
even have developed the handicaps of senility in no way affects our regard for
them. We cannot do enough to repay them for all they have done for us. They
are embodied wisdom; living symbols of our continuity with the past.’ 15
5 Ubuntu and African humanism
We may seem to be far away from ubuntu, but indeed we are not, precisely
because ubuntu also emphasises the virtues of mutuality, inclusiveness and
acceptance. In like manner, respect for dignity is rooted in singularity and
not in our capacity for rationality. Emeritus Justice Yvonne Mokgoro, has
explained ubuntu as follows:
Generally ubuntu translates as humaneness. In its most fundamental sense, it
translates as personhood and morality. Metaphorically, it expresses itself in
umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, describing the significance of group solidarity on
survival issues so central to the survival of communities. While it envelops the
key values of group solidarity, compassion, respect, human dignity, conformity to
basic norms and collective unity, in its fundamental sense it denotes
humanity and morality. Its spirit emphasises respect for human dignity,
marking a shift from confrontation to conciliation. 16
Ubuntu so understood is both a principle of transcendence for the individual
as each one of us transcends our biological distinctiveness that marks us
as unique from the beginning of life as we struggle to become a person. The
burying of the umbilical cord marks the biological distinctiveness of each
person. We are distinct from that moment of the cutting of the umbilical
cord, with an origin shared by no other. But we only become a unique
person through a struggle to define who we are, and we only do this with
the support of others who help us in our effort at self-definition. Thus the
law of transcendence for the individual, ubuntu, is also the law of the social
bond. And why is this the case?
In ubuntu individuals are intertwined in a world of ethical relations and
obligations from the time they are born. This inscription by the other is not
simply reduced to a social fact. We come into the world obligated to others,
and in turn these others are obligated to us, to the individual. Symbolically this
is demonstrated in the burying of the umbilical cord. Others do that for us and
create the origin from which we began our unique journey. But what is
marked in this ritual is our unique-ness. Thus, it is a profound
misunderstanding of ubuntu to confuse it with simple-minded communi-
15
As above.
16 S v Makwanyane 1995 3 SA 391 (CC) para 307.