adminBy Kudzanai Gerede
Barely seven years ago, some section of black South Africans decided to embark on a “reign of terror” in a small township of Alexandra, Johannesburg, targeting fellow black African immigrants living amongst them before it spread to other areas across the country resulting in the killing of at least 65 foreigners and displacement of thousands.
The years that followed saw a return to normalcy away from this madness that had coiled the continent’s economic power-house, until recently, that we have witnessed yet another resurgence of the shameful attacks on African immigrants.
The difference between then and now remains the same as government has once again proven its reluctance to entrust the black South Africans with the economic jacket.
Reports say widespread looting erupted across Durban townships this past week as tensions fuelled by anti-foreigner rhetoric once again boiled over with foreigners’ owned shops looted and set ablaze and several deaths have been confirmed.
The recent attacks have seen public opinion emerge two-fold, firstly, some sections concur with Zulu leader, King Goodwill Zwelithini who has publicly accused foreign African nationals of robbing black South Africans of their jobs and fortune with the other school of thought arguing that the black government has not lived up to its expectations of awarding the majority of South Africans a logical piece of the economic cake.
If common sense is to prevail, the latter is more logical than the former.
The majority of black South Africans have not been economically empowered whether academically, socially or otherwise, and chief to their disgruntlement is the vulnerability they succumb to in competing with foreigners on the job market resulting in the manifestation of their indignation towards the foreigners.
However, what is intrinsic to note is that South Africa became what it is today because of the goodwill of fellow Africans.
As a matter of principle, when Ghana became independent, its then President Dr Kwame Nkrumah pledged to the world that “the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the whole African continent”.
When the ANC waged the struggle against the apartheid government, the whole region was in full support of the oppressed natives.
We cannot help but reflect on how Dr Nkrumah went as far as sending an aircraft to Francistown, soon after the Sharpeville massacre to ferry to Ghana any South African who managed to reach for safety in Botswana.
We cannot also ignore how the region suffered in the hands of the white South African regime when its agents robbed the continent of its illustrious son, Samora Machel, in a masterminded plane crash, or how Mozambique was traumatized by Renamo, a terrorist organisation sponsored by the apartheid regime, furthermore the atrocities in Angola by its proxy, Unita.
The xenophobia mantra is hence overrated as history has proven that black South Africans have always lived and worked in harmony with fellow African immigrants.
Prior to its independence the thriving mining industry has always encompassed a multi-tribal workforce among Africans and it has been government policy for over a century now.
In 1897, Witwatesrand Native Labour Association known as “WENELA” was created, and it brought migrants from across the Southern African region to provide labour for the burgeoning South African mining sector and what this implies is, the so-called foreigners have worked for over a century and have intermarried with locals.
What South Africa needs now is the upliftment of its black majority in the country’s economic space if government is to abate this time bomb which can only lead to the targeting of frustration on vulnerable foreign nationals.
South Africans should introspect on its history and that of its perceived enemies and friends before they act.
Online Reporter