The many of my fellow Africans looked with awe at South Africa as the land of opportunity and haven for tolerance going by the examples of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. But there has always been that cog that is Xenophobic violence that now promises to completely tarnish that image of hope that we so dearly held as Africans in a nation so young and promising yet so far in realizing its own potential. Many Africans are now fleeing South Africa in the fear of being attacked by fellow Africans. South Africans have stooped so low that they have turned against their fellow Africans.
The current numbers of about 3500 immigrants sleeping in crowded camps in search of a quick exit from a country that has decided to hate Africa. About five people have been killed, shops have been looted, homes have been shuttered and in the flames that engulf the dying, so cries Africa on what could have gone so wrong such that Africans could be so mad at Whites during Apartheid and after the illusion that was independence, only turn against their fellow Africans.
It is not lost in the memory of Africans that many nations in the continent, housed and fed many of the South Africans, including freedom fighters during the Apartheid rein. A number of south Africans today hold dual citizenship emanating from the dark days. What could have gone so wrong to elicit the eruption of xenophobic attacks?
Today many Africans are angered and calls for boycotts of all South African Products engulf many social media discourse. If this were to happen, then South Africa would come to realize that she needs the rest of Africa for her survival. It is South African products that dominate many shelves in quite a number of African Countries. It is South African Companies that are making crazy profits in other parts of Africa. Pretty much, South Africa produces more for foreign markets than it produces for its own. It is such an open foreign market that south Africa survives on when it comes to foreign trade. The ground is shifting and if so, South Africa will be the hardest hit.
I join many African brothers and sisters in calling for an end to the stupidity that is being practiced by a few ungrateful south Africans. Why is it that South Africans are attacking Africans and not whites?
Mr. Jacob Tsuma's calls came albeit too late. President Tsuma knows too well and has been witnessing from the comfort of his powerful office as many Africans burn at the flame of his people in Durban. I know for a fact that many white supremacists whose agenda is to celebrate the fall of Africa have been celebrating the current situation in South Africa. The leadership of the country that was so admired is now shaming itself without the fear of what portends their own comfort. President Tsuma needs to rise to the occasion and stop this madness.
The African Union on the other hand has been very silent, as is tradition, waiting on the sidelines as many Africans die only to emerge later when it is too late.
My biggest worry is to all South Africans, mobilize your fellow country men, encourage them to go to school and stop this stupidity. Earn what you have worked for and regain your place in the continent. Failure of that, is being reduced to a village of hate mongers and a dimming star for a country we so cherished. I no longer want my children and their generation to ever want to grow in such a country.
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