African time and punctuality

African time and punctuality
It is a commonly held view not least in South Africa that African time means being late, starting late. Often it is referred to in an attempt to be humoristic; at worst the person who is very late says this as an excuse and might do it in a jocular way: well, we have African time here.

This is completely wrong. Coming late has next to nothing to do with African time. People are coming late all over the world and always come up with all sorts of excuses. My contention is that we should stop using the concept of African time as an excuse for coming or starting late.

In fact African time is really worth while studying. The most wellknown scholar who has done this is Dr John Mbiti, a Kenyan who since long has emigrated to Europe (see his African religions and philosophy. London etc.: Heinemann, 1977). However one should study him as he has very profound things to say. For example he says that studying the African concept of time is probably the best way to get an understanding of African Traditional Religion (ATR). He also says very profoundly that African languages generally have past and present tenses but no future tense, at least not a tense that goes far into the future, into the unknown as it were. A ‘short’ future is possible of a couple of days or of a time that is controllable.
When reading Mbiti again it struck me that the future tense in European languages does not necessarily help us that much. But with a linear time model it is bound to be a future and also probably en end (abrupt) to this future as well.

My claim is thus that African time has got next to nothing to do with coming or starting late. It is a myth that should be killed, the sooner the better. In order to get some of its truth (and I do not claim to understand more than a fraction of all that is) one has to add a few things. For example in African understanding time is not consumed or spent, time is produced or created. This fact could eventually have something to do with how one is punctual and I do in fact have a practical suggestion that I will give shortly.

This view of time as something that is created could be very useful. It does not say that time is up, that time is gone or spent, it has to be created and recreated. I can sound a hopeful note here. Time is not just something given, it is also directly related to how we humans live and we do have the capacity to create it, to make space for it.

Here I said it, space that is; in African understanding of time there is also a relationship to space. Time is not just a linear phenomenon, digital and decimal. It is also directly relating to the place and space where we are and is thus different depending on where we are.

I like to come back to the fact that time is created, made available. It leads me to think that time is rich and somehow abundant. Then how does this work when there is too much to do and I get caught up in the traffic?

To be honest I don’t know. These are things that should be discussed. We should not just take for granted that the Western concept of time is the only one, and one should also not forget that the understanding of time has changed dramatically in Europe etc since agrarian time, since the time of industrial revolution until today’s world of information technology.

The rich created time could work in the following way in relation to being punctual. I actually think being punctual is a virtue. Also I am a sinner I know, but one should not forget that being late means that others have to sacrifice not just of their time but of their lives in general.

What I have noticed among my students is that when an important appointment is set up (let’s say a Master’s student will discuss his final version of his thesis, an important moment) the student would come earlier than said, maybe even half an hour. If I am not into something else very important at the time I tend to accept that.
Perhaps this is African time, being too early. Time is produced and in this case the student has all the reason to produce time so that he/she can be early, even too early.

In other words there is no reason why things should not start punctually in an African setting. With watches or cell phones it is easy to know the time exactly and we could all be early.

This goes not least for our Sunday Worship Services. As a member and Pastor/Priest of ELCSA-COD I propose that we make a commitment to start all our services punctually, whether all have come or not. Those who are late should not feel bad, but those who are responsible (the pastor, the elders, the church council etc.) should act responsibly and show the way: be punctual.