FLY ON THE WALL: Africa at xenophobia crossroads

Recent events in South Africa threaten to put paid to the glamorous picture many of have us have nurtured over the years about that country.

No ‘Madiba magic’ will erase the horror of hundreds of foreigners – men, women and children – huddled together at police stations fearing for their safety.

My fondness for South Africa is based upon such factors as the mystic Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (RIP), when viewed in the background of the horrific apartheid system of government.

Add that to the resilience of Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the stomping of Jacob Zuma, (yeah: he of the ‘I showered after sex to wash away the Aids virus’ fame), the firebrand Julius Malema, and the stand-up comedy of the one and only Trevor Noah – and my South African odyssey is as good as complete.

But, some post-apartheid events have shown that South Africa – in spite of what its hoi polloi and the jet set would like us believe – is still very much a Third World nation.

Writing in his private capacity in Medium – an international forum that “taps into the brains of the world’s most insightful writers, thinkers and storytellers to bring out the smartest takes on topics that matter” – January Makamba, a Tanzania government Minister, stated that “the treatment of Africans in South Africa shames me as an African, and pains me as a Tanzanian. Many of us know the best of South Africa, and South Africans than this...

“I can attest that this doesn’t represent the true spirit and consciousness of that great nation. I join the country’s leadership in condemning these acts – and commend it for taking actions to stop them. I’m writing this opinion in my personal capacity as a pan-Africanist who grew up captivated by the romance of the liberation struggle, and as a brother to many good South Africans who are equally pained by what they see.”

Retracing the death of Edward Moringe Sokoine on April 12, 1984 – and the backlash that could have happened in Tanzania, but never happened...

That was when a South African refugee (and a member of the South African National Congress living in exile in Tanzania, Dumisani Dube, was found culpable of the death in a road motor vehicle accident of the much-admired Prime Minister Sokoine (1938-84).

Mr Makamba writes: “I don’t claim to be an expert in what happened between that moment of pride (Mandela’s release from jail on February 11, 1990) and his inauguration as President (on May 10, 1994) and the first wave of attacks against Africans living in South Africa.

“But the images, the meaning and the symbol of the attacks are disheartening. The beautiful romance of the struggle (against apartheid) – a joint project to free South Africa – should not have ‘midwifed’ xenophobia or, what others call ‘Afrophobia.’”

Bigots across the world shout of Africans’ incapacity for self-government. For many years, this justified colonialism and its drawbacks.

Others have mocked the idea of an African unity. The Africans-on-Africans attacks create ‘I-told-you-so’ moments for bigots.

That is when principled leaderships matter; what the leaders say and do define a nation’s values.

It matters whether or not people are able, willing and ready to suffer discomfort to live up to national values.

I’m not suggesting that, because other African countries contributed to South Africa’s liberation, then exempting those countries from South Africa’s immigration or other laws should be some sort of gratitude by the new South Africa.

The struggle against apartheid was about seeking to live under, and be governed by, just laws. The struggle will have lost meaning as what is being meted-out to ‘foreign’ Africans in South Africa as akin to jungle justice.

We say this not because we’re perfect, but because we’re stakeholders who committed our sweat, blood and resources to the struggle against apartheid in seeking a new South Africa that we could all point out as an example of Africans’ capacity to jointly surmount evil.

Immigration – which is as old as humanity itself – has dominated public discourse around the world in recent years. It is a sensitive matter which requires an equally-sensitive, but also creative and courageous, leadership that can manage its discontents – and reap its dividends.