The Sunday Mail
Vukani Madoda The Sharp Shooter
South African President Cde Jacob Zuma used his Freedom Day address last Monday to take a swipe at African governments for letting their citizens reside in South Africa. His firm stance on xenophobic violence that has gripped the rainbow nation is unwelcoming and further alienates South Africa from the rest of Africa and the world.
Addressing the public on the Union Buildings South Lawn, Cde Zuma chastised governments who have criticised the South African government for the violence that has claimed an alleged seven lives.
He said: “As much as we have a problem that is alleged to be xenophobic, our sister countries contribute to this. Why are their citizens not in their countries and are in South Africa?”
Clearly, Cde Zuma does not see anything wrong with xenophobia. Clearly, Cde Zuma has shifted the blame on the violent episodes in his country to other African countries. He has even refused to recognise it as xenophobia and instead describes it in a watered-down manner as “a problem that is alleged to be xenophobic”.
It is unfortunate that Cde Zuma has boldly turned a blind eye to a ticking time-bomb.
He has chosen to forget that in recent years during the apartheid era, plenty of South African citizens were not in their country but in other African countries. When they were all over Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho as illegal immigrants, no one bothered to ask them why they were not in their own country – South Africa – no one blamed them for being illegal immigrants. They stayed in these countries for as long as they pleased and it was all in the spirit of Ubuntu; you are a person because of other people. In that case, they were Africans because of other Africans. However, today, Cde Zuma thinks South Africa is heaven and the rest of Africa is hell and yet it was that hell which made the heaven he and his countrymen enjoy today.
Indeed, the wisdom of Cde Robert Mugabe is always as refreshing as that of a soothsayer: “The people who are described as influx into South Africa are not pushed by governments, they are people who voluntarily go to South Africa. They think South Africa is the heaven, our heaven in southern Africa.”
Yes, they go to South Africa because they expect the same spirit of Ubuntu which they extended to South Africans not so long ago. They go to South Africa at their own volition not because they are starving in their own countries, but because they want a different menu.
All foreigners in South Africa are not permanent residents, Cde Zuma, they are visitors, they are tourists and they will return home. It is just the duration of the stay that differs and, of course, also the state in which they return to their home countries that differs as well.
They hope to return alive but in certain cases, unfortunately, dead as Emmanuel Sithole. Therefore, Cde Zuma, we are not your enemies, we are just visitors who would love to return to our home countries alive. If you do not want any visitors because they will eat your food and drink your wine, then how are you going to visit us when your turn to try our different menus arrives? Can you not hear the footsteps of the time that is drawing you closer and closer to visiting us in the not too distant future?
Are you sure that the violence unleashed on fellow Africans is to be blamed on their home governments?
Are you sure Cde Zuma, that if all Africans in South Africa were to return to their home countries your country will be heaven? Ask Cde Julius Malema and he will tell you that if all foreigners leave South Africa today the problem of violent outbreaks will not leave with them, but may, in fact, become more pronounced and more directed at you in particular.
Like I said before, your enemy is the white man.
He is the one that is having the last laugh.
He is the one that has taught you to love yourself and hate your fellow brother, your fellow human being. He is the one that has systematically made you believe that your enemy is the one that does not hail from South Africa.
He is the one that has colour-coded apartheid such that you do not recognise it anymore because now it is called xenophobia.
Cde Zuma, why has there not been any xenophobic attacks on white people? Have they not taken the jobs of your citizens? Are white people citizens of South Africa? Did they not come from their godforsaken continent to settle in your motherland? Why do you not see any problem with them being in South Africa, eating your food and drinking your wine?
Are they more special than your African brothers and sisters?
For how long will you handle them with kid’s gloves Cde Zuma? Do you fear being demonised like your elder brother, Cde Mugabe, because you have empowered your people?
We are watching as events unfold in your so-called rainbow nation and we pity the outcome of it all. Already your rand currency is tumbling and it is only a matter of time before all your visitors leave you, including the white man. It is a matter of time before the antelopes are the ones holding the spears and the birds are the ones with the catapults.
Choose your friends wisely Cde Zuma, better yet, choose your enemies wisely as well.
Dubulaizitha!
