As we all know, the socio-economic liberation of Africa depends on the integration of the continent. So, we must unite rather than splinter. I am not opposed to the use of pressure and diplomatic actions against South Africa, but these should not be disruptive. In other words, we should handle South Africa in the corrective way parents handle their children. Unfortunately for us, we do not have perceptive African leaders with the moral authority who can call erring leaders to order. I am talking about people like Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela.
South Africa united Africa and the Black race more than any other as we fought Apartheid, one of the most evil systems that humans ever created. Apartheid was backed by some of the most powerful countries in the world such as the United States, United Kingdom and Israel, which also practices a variant of Apartheid called Zionism. But, even as newly emergent countries from the other European evil called colonialism, African nations were sure of victory.
On 4 October, 1963, Emperor Haile Selassie majestically stood before the United Nations General Assembly and told the world that: “until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned…that until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes; that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race… And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed…until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.”
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Africans fought side by side with our South African brothers and sisters. In Nigeria, citizens contributed money for the liberation movements, including today’s ruling African National Congress (ANC). We provided South Africans Nigerian passports and scholarships to study in our universities. I went to the university with some of our South African and Zimbabwean brothers.
As an African proverb says: “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion” We tied up Apartheid and their powerful supporters and overcame them. Tragically today, some African countries are uniting, not to further African unity, but to fight South Africa for xenophobic attacks on other Africans. Our South African brothers and sisters claim other Africans are taking their jobs. This is clearly delusional as the ‘jobs’ are actually not those that South Africans want to do or have the skills to do. How does a fellow African hawking sweets or second hand clothes translate to taking jobs?
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Ironically, the actual jobs taken are by Whites who, in the first place, never relinquished them after Apartheid. Most serious is the fact that whereas the basic reason for the liberation war was for the Black people to retake their lands and economy, both remain in the hands of the White population. And, the response of the South African population is not to challenge this, but to continue hero worshipping their former oppressors, while attacking their hapless fellow Africans.
I agree that the Cyril Ramaphosa leadership has not been forthright, as it hides behinds talks of the need for foreigners to have proper documentation and be law abiding. First, the mobs roaming Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Province are not asking for papers before attacking alleged migrants. Secondly, those attacked were not being lawless when the mobs set on them. Whatever reaction we take, must also put into consideration the fact that majority South Africans, like our very dear brother, Julius Malema, do not support the madness on the streets.
The reactions of some African countries has been swift. For instance, on 6 May, President Duma Boko of Botswana is reported to have declared a state of emergency and pronounced drastic measures against South Africa. These include cutting electricity supply to several provinces in South Africa, the closure of its borders and the immediate return of all its citizens currently residing in South Africa. He told South Africans, “We helped you fight oppression, and today our children are being humiliated.”
Tanzania, another Frontline State in the war against Apartheid, reportedly threatened to deport South Africans and order the suspension of all air and maritime trade between both countries. Nigeria has summoned the South African High Commissioner, while angry parliamentarians decided to urgently engage their South African counterparts. There were also calls that South African businesses in Nigeria, such as the telecom giant, MTN, and, pay television, DStv, should be closed down, and diplomatic relations reviewed.
Other African countries reacting angrily to the xenophobic attacks include Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya, while the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) Parliament directed its Political Affairs Committee to intervene in the matter. The African Union (AU) and United Nations have also waded into the crises, urging restraint. It is quite necessary for Africans to intervene in a constructive manner, as South Africa which has failed to meet the basic needs of its people in the post-Apartheid period, needs to be pitied.
I agree that the Cyril Ramaphosa leadership has not been forthright, as it hides behinds talks of the need for foreigners to have proper documentation and be law abiding. First, the mobs roaming Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Province are not asking for papers before attacking alleged migrants. Secondly, those attacked were not being lawless when the mobs set on them. Whatever reaction we take, must also put into consideration the fact that majority South Africans, like our very dear brother, Julius Malema, do not support the madness on the streets.
Apart from the failure of the South African government to meet the basic needs of the people and, therefore, may find the attacks a welcome diversion, there is the high possibility that what we might be witnessing is the mob being used to act out a script. South Africa is perhaps the strongest economy in Africa, the most courageous in seeking to bring the war criminals in Israel to justice, and unapologetically in the forefront of the fight for a new international economic order. So, if there is a convergence of African countries against South Africa, it will gladden the hearts of those who want the present rotten international order to continue.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is visiting France, Kenya and Rwanda. Can you imagine the effect he would have were he to also land in South Africa to discuss with President Ramaphosa on ending the xenophobic attacks? That is what Nelson Mandela would have done. Even former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is capable of such decisive action.
As we all know, the socio-economic liberation of Africa depends on the integration of the continent. So, we must unite rather than splinter. I am not opposed to the use of pressure and diplomatic actions against South Africa, but these should not be disruptive. In other words, we should handle South Africa in the corrective way parents handle their children. Unfortunately for us, we do not have perceptive African leaders with the moral authority who can call erring leaders to order. I am talking about people like Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is visiting France, Kenya and Rwanda. Can you imagine the effect he would have were he to also land in South Africa to discuss with President Ramaphosa on ending the xenophobic attacks? That is what Nelson Mandela would have done. Even former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is capable of such decisive action.
I recall the 16 July, 2003 coup against President Fradique de Menezes of Sao Tome while he was on a state visit to Nigeria. Obasanjo would have none of it. He rejected the coup, mobilised regional leaders to apply pressure, and offered the coup plotters, led by Major Fernado Pereira, amnesty. On 23 July, 2003, Obasanjo took the elected President back to Sao Tome to resume his duties.
President Tinubu, in taking a decisive diplomatic step by flying to Pretoria, will not be taking risks, compared to that taken by Obasanjo.
Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.
