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Sunday opnion: Xenophobic attacks — oneness forgotten too soon |
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Saturday, 17 July 2010 16:35 |
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TO comprehend that a few weeks ago we were like one African family cheering behind the Bafana Bafana in the World Cup but now we are at each other’s throats!
The South African flag was on almost every car, house, college, university and, for once, Africa’s hopes were revived. Indeed it was time for Africa. Where has this xenophobia come from then? To make matters worse it’s targeted at the same poor peasants who stood by the South Africans during their struggle against apartheid.
Zimbabweans and other foreign nationals were in South Africa helping to make the African World Cup event a success, but I am truly astounded to hear that the foreign African nationals are scampering for safety. The most embarrassing thing is that the xenophobia is being targeted against fellow Africans. Where has the spirit of pan-Africanism gone to?
Africa played a pivotal role in ensuring that South African independence became a reality. When Mandela was released from prison we were all mad with joy. I remember as a young man running with joy upon catching wind of the news that South Africa was free. It was indeed a sigh of relief to us because we understood the ordeal they went through in the fight against apartheid.
Many ordinary citizens from countries like Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe were persecuted by the apartheid regime. Is this how they are going to be rewarded for their suffering?
The South African government, though I have always respected President Jacob Zuma for his mediation efforts in Zimbabwe, has played a willing accomplice in this ruthless, criminal episode. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that such horrendous acts of murder and butchering of innocent Africans can take place in their backyard without a single culprit being apprehended.
In 2008 African brothers were roasted alive with car tyres but no significant arrests were made. Xenophobia has reared its ugly head again, and now the perpetrators are super charged because they got away with it. It is very clear that the leadership of the country is trying to hide behind a finger by denying that xenophobia is a reality.
The South African government sympathises with the victims during the day and celebrates their demise at night, but let it be known that what goes round, comes round and history shall surely judge South Africa harshly.
Human rights organisations should begin legal action against the South African government on behalf of the victims. These victims should be compensated for shock, torture and death at the hands of South African citizens.
Some children are now street kids and orphans because of this violence. Some people have been displaced while others have had their future put in limbo after their meagre but hard-earned property was set ablaze by these heartless xenophobes.
The actions of our South African brothers have created destitutes and some children are now orphans who may have died in the streets from poverty and starvation.
Human rights activists should stand up and gather all the data about all the people who were massacred so that the record can be clear to the rest of Africa. South Africans have failed to appreciate that they do not leave on an island. It’s indeed very painful to realise that some foreign nationals who helped in making the World Cup a success left the country fleeing for dear life without being paid for their hard work because of fear.
Most South African employers took advantage and delayed to pay these foreign nationals so that they would flee leaving their money behind. Worse still some South Africans have looted the property of foreign nationals which took them a lifetime to acquire. How painful can that be?
*Simbarashe Chirimubwe is the leader of Concerned Africans Association (CAA) and Global Zimbabwe Forum Coordinator for Africa.
By Simbarashe Chirimumbwe
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It is being ingenous to say that when the peoples of the world were supporting the people of South Africa in their struggle against apartheid they did so because they expected to be rewarded for it. They supported the struggle in solidarity with the people of South Africa to build an equitable world. You should be blaming Mugabe for your misery. You should be fighting Mugabe and his cronies and see if the people of South Africa won't support you. They have done it by refusing to download the shipment of arms from China which were meant to suppress the long suffering people of Zimbabwe for one example.
The other side which should be appreciated about the people of South Africa is that they can see that South Africa is heading the way of the rest of Africa, it is on the road of decline. The m*re there are mouths to feed by this declining economy the quicker we will arrive at collapse. I think it is basic economics that there is no way in which the GDP per capita of South Africa will not decline further with such a rapidly growing population.
I think the animosity amongst the people of Africa is bred by its corrupt leaders who are clueless about what they want for their people except for themselves. Just think about what is happening to foreigners in Uganda after the bombs. What is happening in Jos Nigeria, the genocide in Rwanda. Poverty all over Africa, so much that some concerned people are even suggesting that Africa be recolonised because Africans are becoming a burden for everyone. We must stop as Africans to think about running away and being refugees waiting for other people to solve our problems. We must stick it out until we get it right where we are.
We must not allow the "leaders" to manipulate us. The South African government is encouraging uncontrolled immigration because it wants to poach skills from the rest. As soon as the people of South Africa rise, which they will, those foreigners without skills are going to be deported and only those with needed skills will remain because they shall have established themselves. This is the plan but it will not work because South Africans know how to struggle. I really pity people who are fighting for a right to be South Africans because they are being used by this government to close the gaps it is not able to close. Remember devide and rule. Africans must unite in struggle and not be divided by corrupt rulers. Why are the so-called leaders whose citizens are suffering in other lands so quite? Why don't they call them back to their free countries? They don't care. Do you think the leaders in South Africa care? I do not think so. Many people were left to die of Aids in South Africa, uncontrolled immigration is another way of replacing the skills which were lost due to Aids and emmigration since 1994. They are trying to reinforce the numbers of the elite which South Africa itself cannot build enough of. It will take m*re than this elite of the cla*s of 1996 to suppress the resilient and heroic people of South Africa born of the struggle against capitalist greed and corruption.