Did God really tell you to do ‘everything’ you did, Mr Watson?

The Watsons will no doubt continue to try to amplify their own sense of moral presence in society by holding forth about God constantly.

Former Bosasa chief executive Gavin Watson’s brother Valence speaks at a memorial service for his brother, 30 August 2019, in Little Falls, Roodepoort. Picture: Michel Bega

In a televised interview with eNCA on Friday outside the Little Falls Christian Centre, the late Gavin Watson’s brother Valence was in a defiant mood and claimed that anyone even hinting that Gavin or anyone else in the Watson clan might ever have done anything dodgy was evil, filthy and a liar.

He had earlier told the mourners at Gavin’s memorial in Roodepoort that the spate of news articles about Bosasa, state capture and corruption was motivated by racism and that the media were being “vicious” in spreading lies.

Somehow, he even seemed to think that a primary allegation in the media against the Watson family has been that they are racists.

I’ve never come across that, and even if it has been said, it would be ridiculous, since the Watson family has been hailed for the brave stance they took against the apartheid government’s racist segregation policies, particularly in sport, and most especially rugby.

They emerged very much on the right side of history, and have milked that for all it is worth.

Their current bad press has other, more obvious, origins, with a mountain of allegations against Bosasa for bribes allegedly paid to officials to keep the tenders coming in. It may be that Gavin Watson didn’t know anything about any wrongdoing at his own company, but yeah … well … right…

Gavin’s brother Daniel “Cheeky” Watson is also currently standing trial for fraud and money laundering in an unrelated case, while most rugby writers I know are of the opinion that Cheeky helped to destroy the financial viability of the professional game in the Eastern Cape.

Nevertheless, Valence Watson told eNCA that he and his family have only ever done what God wants them to do, and he appeared very convinced that they always have a firm grasp of exactly what this should be.

He went as far as to conflate criticism of Gavin Watson’s multibillion-rand tender business, and of the Watsons themselves, with being an attack on Christianity itself.

Now this may fool or even impress some people, but the very same God that Valence Watson was trying to hide the family name behind is a construction that was created from the very same collection of Judeo-Christian concepts and scriptures that the apartheid government used as a basis and justification for its own segregationist policies.

We don’t blame God for apartheid, just as we should probably not praise God for convincing the Watsons to do the right thing at the time. We know that human beings were ultimately responsible for both things.

God as an idea was created by humans and continues to be edited and redefined according to the human needs of the day. This will probably continue for millennia more, since religion doesn’t seem to be getting less popular. It’s just changing constantly. And, along with it, people will do whatever they feel is right and justified – or simply whatever it is they want to do – and then tailor their version or interpretation of God to fit it.

The concept of God has been, and possibly always will be, a useful tool to shape human behaviour and perception.

The Watsons will no doubt continue to try to amplify their own sense of moral presence in society by holding forth about God constantly. And they’ll continue to use it to deflect criticism and avoid being held accountable – perhaps except to be judged by God Himself, in their view.

It’s similar to the largely discredited premise of “divine right” trotted out by generations of malignant kings and queens throughout history, who tried to make us believe that the human rights crimes they were engaging in were justified by God having chosen them as the rulers.

But it’s important to call bullshit on this as often as possible if humanity is to have any chance of progress.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying that Bosasa is guilty of anything, since that has not been proven, and it may yet turn out that Angelo Agrizzi has done nothing but lie, as the Watson family strongly maintains (editor’s note, updated, Monday, 2 September). The point is the more subtle one that one should not accept that any family cannot be guilty of anything simply because they are faithful Christians.

Valence Watson himself has previously stated that he wasn’t involved with the work of Bosasa, so he surely can’t be completely sure that the company, as well his departed brother, never did anything wrong, much as he may want to believe that.

Sometimes religious people’s ideas are morally good and admirable and it’s a good PR day for God. Sometimes their ideas are vile, such as when they decide to come and bomb or shoot us for whatever reason, and God doesn’t look so great then. Either way, we shouldn’t be blaming God, or giving such a concept any of the credit. You certainly don’t need to believe or disbelieve in any of these things to perform your fair share of good or evil in this world.

Of course, I have no doubt that a man like Valence Watson firmly believes he is a man of God and he is executing the will of his creator. And good luck to him.

The rest of us don’t have to believe he is though.