Maybe it is time African countries start reviewing presence of South African businesses
June 30 will be remembered as a dark moment for Africa. It is a day when Africa rose up against Africa, a day when South African anti-foreign Africa proponents decided to take the law into their own hands in full view of global media and viewers to remove fellow Africans from their homes and ultimately from their country.
Traumatic footage on various local and international television channels showed South African anti-immigrant campaigners under a group calling itself “March and March” enforcing “jungle law” in xenophobic fashion as the men and women in the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) played second fiddle in facilitating the removal of foreign nationals from their “lawful homes” under the guise of ensuring their safety.
Some protesters warned publicly on TV that this is just the start of a bigger campaign to “flush out foreigners.” Threats to “visit immigrants individually” speaks volumes of how many steps the campaigners are ahead of the authorities in their bid to flush out foreign nationals without following the due processes of international law and conventions on migration of people.
Clearly, there is a breakdown of law and order in South Africa. The anti-immigrant protesters in some parts of the country – in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Germiston, Thembisa, were seen moving door to door removing foreigners, including hapless women and children from the comfort of their homes.
The children seen on television being escorted out of their homes to purported places of safety will live with memories of the day when South African authorities could not guarantee their safety to shelter.
This may sound emotional, but clearly when any government is in total control of governance structures and systems, it cannot allow some citizens to take the law into their own hands, regardless of the number of baskets filled with grievances over the sharing of economic benefits or the broader governance systems.
Scenes depicting hundreds of Malawian “undocumented immigrants” in South African repatriation camps in Durban evoked extremely sickening and spirit-dampening feelings.
These locations are not any different from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi concentration camps which were created for the downtrodden Jewish people.
The paradox of the anti-immigrants fracas targeting people accused of taking away jobs from locals and being the architects of heinous crimes is in the apparent lackluster approach of the government of the Republic of South Africa to diffuse anti-foreigner tensions. May be it is strategic, may a simple omission or may be an intention to ride on the horse back with the crowds.
I must state that not every South African supports the purge currently being orchestrated by these groups, which appear to have wiped emotions of ordinary South Africans living in dire straits, without jobs or economic anchor, to convince them that foreigners are the root cause of their “suffering.” In contrast, it is a failure of leadership (the generic African cancer or poison), at the centre of the untold misery faced by common people.
After South Africa dismantled the yoke of apartheid, I was privileged to regularly visit that country and I spent two years working there at some point. The complaints by locals have mainly stemmed from the disproportionate spread of resources between those who possess it all and those living a life of lacking basic support systems.
The bulk of farm labourers, house helpers/nuns, shop workers, construction workers, miners and so on and so forth are Malawians, Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and others from outside of South Africa borders. West Africans filled other South African sectors such as education, health and the business space.
Therefore, to target fellow Africans as the source of the troubles that common South Africans face in their daily charge of life is not only illogical, but unfair and also a major failure to understand the shape of Africa.
Perhaps questions need to be asked such as: what will happen to South Africa companies if for instance Zambians, Ghanaians, Nigerians, Zimbabweans, the Tswanas and others decide to shut out all South African companies that have invested in their nations? There is no doubt that the South African economy would face an economic earthquake.
So if other Africans are accused of taking away South African jobs, should it not follow that the residents of countries where South African companies have invested should begin to agitate for the takeover of South African companies that take away their money?
The pan-African vision of Kwame Nkhrumah, Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda and other liberation heroes cannot be matched by most of current African leaders. South Africa has just nailed those aspirations to dungeons of deep-rooted divisions.
Sadly, history has a way of repeating itself. One day, another country or countries will emerge and take revenge and potentially this will be in the form of nationalising all South African companies. This will be history repeating itself.
What is the repayment Africans are getting from South Africans? The maiming and killing of its people, destruction of businesses legally put-up by Africans in South Africa and the placement of Malawians in concentration camps without basic life support facilities. Is this what Africa really needs for it to unite? Certainly not! Africa will keep the records.