Purposeful Jibes and Gospel: A Case for Jesus’ harsh Words and Mgodoyi labelling

This article seeks to make a case for the use of the mgodoyi label to refer to perpetrators of corruption in South Africa by examining the jibes used by Jesus against his opponents in the first century. It argues that while Jesus discouraged random name-calling, he strategically used various jibes in the process of proclaiming his gospel, to stir up the ‘consciences’ of his opponents and dislodge them from their philosophical positions, with the view to causing them to change their ways. Linguistically and anthropologically, words and labels communicate a message, and they give shape to the object they are communicating about, albeit some may be regarded as insults. The article argues that the term mgodoyi is used in the same manner in the discourse against perpetrators of corruption, eliciting, in the process, complaints about its harshness. This is indicative of the effectiveness of the message that is being communicated. The article then concludes that the insults are used purposefully with the view to dislodging the objects from their ways and to make them receptive to the good news.