The Sunday Mail
Munyaradzi Hwengwere
Pictures flying on various social media platforms pertaining to the senseless violence in South Africa against fellow brothers and sisters suggest that something has gone wrong with our continent’s dream of a united and prosperous Africa.
Yet, if these pictures are juxtaposed against similar ones in Europe where each week thousands of Africans put themselves at risk by attempting to cross whole oceans on crowded boats, a picture of a desperate people willing to do anything to escape poverty begins to emerge.
As such, away from the gory pictures, we need to examine current events with greater introspection. Exactly who are these South Africans who are killing people of a similar origin to them? What is driving such behaviour and how can it best be tackled away from simply appealing for men to move beyond stone age behaviour?
We suggest in this article that African countries – and especially those in Southern Africa – must work tirelessly to reconcile opening borders with smart protectionism of their own industries. The failure to solidly rally behind “buy local” initiatives has created some of these problems.
We have become supermarket shelves loaded with South African products and each day witness our people troop to South Africa in search of menial jobs and products to trade back home.
The responsibility is for Government and local authorities to understand that while it is easy to encourage the proliferation of flea markets, in the long run we reduce ourselves to a laughing stock by those who produce.
South Africa, on the other hand, has been clear on their obligation to create jobs for her own people. It is unfortunate her people invariably suffer from literacy deficiencies, but over the years the country has viciously protected her own industries while moving to establish a chain of shops across the entire continent.
In 2006, South Africa banned the importation of Asbestos from Zimbabwe into her territory because she reasoned that Turnall was taking market share and yet a few years down the line, Group Five – the parent company of Everite which sponsored the ban – established themselves in Zimbabwe.
All our country did was to welcome them with open arms. No questions asked. In fact, we proceeded to give them lucrative contracts to rehabilitate our national highway. Again, no questions asked and no requirement to compensate for the damage inflicted on our country where over 25 000 jobs were lost because of the self-serving ban.
Sadly, Zimbabwe, which, for years, was the only place where South African supermarket chains had little sway has now joined the “buy South Africa” bandwagon. Pick n Pay are now literally picking prime spots and obliterating local retailers and industry. They gladly ship profits back home.
In Zambia, the situation is equally sad. South Africans appealed to our neighbour by promising to build malls that are as beautiful as those in Mzansi. The Zambians were thrilled and could not resist laying the red carpet for their brothers from across the Limpopo.
What they did not realise is that these brothers are more like Americans; they believe in doing only that which safeguards their interests. No sooner had the malls been built that all space was allocated to South African chains and, of course, products carried were from that country too.
The late President Michael Sata could only remark that it was a misnomer to call them investors. Rather they were “infestors”.
But there is logic to all this.
By expanding trade based on South African industries, jobs and wealth are preserved in Mzansi. And for the good work by foot soldiers whose job has been to open African markets in the name of free trade, rewards are plenty in the form of various export incentives.
There must be determination to support the growth of local industries in each country. On the basis of such growth and various comparative and competitive advantages, begin to trade with one another.
The xenophobic problem has provided an opportunity for Zimbabwe and other countries to get our economies on track. In any case, why go to South Africa when jobs can be found in countries of origin?
The only way to beat xenophobia permanently is build our own economies and that means insisting that our money is essentially spent on growing our own prosperity.
When it comes to trade, we must do so with those that enhance our values.
