The Great Mother Ant

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

The great underground she constructs
To resist power that corrupts
When new offspring arrive
They are well defended
Schooled in the teachings
Of the antiestablishment
The collective is interested
While self-interest arrested

They learn about altruistic
To commit like genetic
To uphold ancient wisdom
Like the great mother ant

When sovereignty is breached
Sterile soldiers must be reached
To defend the great mother ant
To preserve their cherished value
They repel foreign occupation
To regain territorial honor
To serve the great mother ant


Contextual Commentary
The queen ant is the supreme ruler of the underground chambers of the ant colony. She chooses and pre-determines the social and functional roles of the ants. In her great wisdom, she has determined that ants that carry out critical functions like food resources and military defense are fundamentally sterile. Interestingly, these individuals who serve the ant society in the sectors of the economy and military defense are expressly devoid of self-interest. They get vetted of self-interest while still in the womb of their mother. This makes sense because a mother’s language and her environment do influence a human baby while inside its mother’s womb. Analytically, sterile ants make better defenders of the ant society because they uphold the norms and values of their society without fear or favour. They are superior economic producers of their society. Sterile soldiers, workers, porters, janitors, among others, translate into a human concept of selflessness. Such individuals are incapable of self-interest.

The ant society highly values the attributes of selfless service. Self-interest, in which a member of society puts his or her personal desires ahead of social service would have his or her membership revoked and kicked out of the ant society. In a worse case, such an individual would be sentenced to public execution because the ant society cannot tolerate self-interest. Why is that? The ant society regards self-interest as an antagonistic contradiction of their way of life. Self-interest is treated like treason, a betrayal of their society. A society cannot advance, thrive or prosper if those who serve in it are governed by self-interest. They must be sterilized of any traces of self-interest in order to contribute greatly to the well being of others using the Sesotho philosophy of Bonyopa (the process of sterilization).

Colonial conquest was achieved primarily with the help of guns, foreign religion and self-interest. The modern popular media use this idea to perpetuate self-interest among the colonized so that the society remains trapped in an infinite state of a stalemate with respect to radical transformation and economic emancipation. There is a lot of talk about transformation but very little to show for it. There is a lot of talk about ubuntu but very little evidence on the ground. The greatest question is: are we ready to learn from the great mother ant or do we remain loyal to the status quo that robs the society of economic emancipation? What are the consequences of self-interest for future generations?