Xenophobia is one thing that South Africans should not embraced
because in my opinion I view xenophobia not being different from terrorism or slavery, but the fact that notable figures such as king Goodwill
Zwelthini of Kwazulu and the president's son openly supporting it,
then I am forced to a conclusion that South Africa is back stabbing
the African leaders, countries and the gesture of humanity they
showed the people of south African during the apartheid era. For
African countries embraced and welcomed South Africa political
refugees with open hands, but open hatred through xenophobia is what
Africa gets in return. And what I see is a seed of hate sown in
mid-2008 when South African government failed to prosecute the
criminals and today the government is failing to stop the recent
attacks on fellow African because the seed of hate planted seven
years ago has outgrown the system, therefore government efforts
cannot contain it.
REALITY TIME CHART
1. King Goodwill Zwelthini, the originator of the
recent attacks on foreigners was once provided with passport and
financial aid to escape the brutal apartheid regime and exiled to
St. Helena from 1968 to 1971. It important to understand that the
African countries that King Zwelthini is today calling
'foreigners' are the same countries that funded for his escape.
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WHAT IGNORANT SOUTH AFRICANS THINK?
1. Africans are stealing our job, forgetting the
fact that, most of Africans that go to south Africa are
professionals that contribute to the social and economic
development of the country.
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2. Today south Africans are calling neighboring
countries 'dirty and undeveloped', but the truth is that leaders
like Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia risked the collapse and progress of
Zambia to oppose apartheid through funding of the Africa National
Congress (ANC). And it is this supported that risked Kenneth
Kaunda's governance by agents of apatheid.
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2.All foreigners are 'aliens' or illegally in
south African forgetting the fact that most of the foreigners in
south Africa are legally there and are abide to rules and laws of
the land.
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3. During the apartheid era, Nigeria contributed
US$61 billion to black south Africans during the apartheid struggle
from 1974 to 1994 to combat apartheid. And the above sum was raised
through civil servants donating 5% of their salaries to fight
apartheid.
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3. African foreigners’ equals trouble and
competition while treating foreigners from India and China as
potential investors whether legally or illegally staying in south
Africa.
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4. And we cannot forget efforts by Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa, Nigerian only prime minister who was the first to advocate
against apartheid and the first leader to provide financial aid at
the expense of his citizens.
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4. Foreigners are source of unfulfilled promised
by the government and the ruling party.
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5. During apartheid, neighboring countries and
many other African countries schools and universities were flooded
with south African combatants turned students and yet no citizen
put a restriction on the ungrateful south African who are now
repaying with hate. For South Africans in Zambia were considered
Zambian and were given equal treatment.
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5. South Africans are superior compared to other Africans.
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6. During apartheid, the south African defence
force attacked neighboring countries that hosted the African
national congress (ANC) bases.
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6. South Africa does not need the rest of Africa,
but needs the Indians and Chinese.
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And if the south
African people feel the is need for an immigration crackdown, I
absolutely agreed there is need to control immigration through a 21st
styled method should be used and they should not stigmatize every
African immigrant in south African as illegal. For violence is a tool
of the oppressors such as Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab and should not be
used to counter attack immigration.
Furthermore, for
those that do not understand the term 'xenophobia' then I will simply
define it as 'unseasoned fear or hate towards foreign' and this hate
is motivated and directed to fellow Africans by Africans. And I
believe it’s time to let the people of South Africa and the
leadership that’s 'Africans' lives
matter' and we shall not lie a
blind eye or deaf ear to the crying and lost lives. For Africa is
everybody's home despite the race, sex and language.
On paper through embassies
protocols, agreements, bilateral and treaties, Africans are free to
live anywhere in Africa but in reality as in South Africa, brutal
killings is the harsh anthem fellow Africans cry. For Africa faces an
uncertain future of doom characterized by religious radicalism and
hate such as xenophobia and it is the duty of ever African to take
responsibility and advocate against the recent violence.
In conclusion, I
believe South Africans are using foreigners as scapegoats for their
anger and frustration over lack of service delivery by the government
and it’s important for the citizens to channel their energy towards
their government. And it’s equally important for the rest of Africa
not to boycott products and businesses by South Africans, because
that will only harm our own economies for injustice cannot be solved
by another act of injustice.
Written and edited by:
Sishumba Musanda
