I HAVE been following with somewhat despair the hash tag ‘so far so good’ on social media.
What was supposed to be a message of how far Zimbabwe has come has instead turned into a tool to ridicule Zimbabwe’s independence.
The truth of the matter is most of those reacting negatively to the message of hope and a bright future for Zimbabwe is the nation’s youth.
My greatest fear is that Zimbabwe’s youth will become disenfranchised from the liberation history in the same manner that African-American youths have been detached from the goals and gains of the civil rights movement.
The reality is that with over a decade and a half of sanctions and a downward spiralling economy the country can be said to have very little to mark 35 years of independence.
Do we as Zimbabweans have the right to stand tall among our fellow Africans and declare that so far things have been good?
It is just not Zimbabweans who have a lot of introspecting to do, but our neighbours down south need the good Lord’s help if they are ever going to find their place among their fellow African.
It is evident that all is not so good in South Africa; xenophobia is a curse that will haunt South Africans for decades to come.
Are we as Africans ever going to get past the gruesome image that we are seeing daily in the media highlighting just how off the reservations our brothers and sisters in Mzansi have gone?
Xenophobia is a ‘scapegoating’ mechanism that has its root in the failure of a socio-political system that is yet to be liberated from white capitalists.
Xenophobia is not about fear or dislike of foreigners, but it is about a people who have failed to be educated, who have gone through extreme levels of violence and have not really been able to reconcile with their past and what the future has in store for them.
In as much as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is touted as a success story post-apartheid, the trauma of racism and acceptance in new South Africa still needs to be addressed at community level.
There is a letter that is being circulated on the internet, purportedly penned by one South African in an attempt to justify the attacks on fellow Africans.
Part of this letter reads:
“Dear neighbour from Africa and other part of the world, we have travelled the world and have not found one country that allows the flood of humans across its borders as South Africa is experiencing.
Even in war-torn parts like Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and Somalia.
We were seven million people in Johannesburg city in 2011; today we have an estimated 13 million.
Of course our infrastructure and service must collapse.
If you were quite prepared to disrespect the first Law of sovereignty of our country why should you respect the rest of our laws?
We have just come out of an oppressive bloody Apartheid system while you north of the Limpopo have been enjoying freedom since 1960, 1975 and 1981 respectively.
We remember those proud milestones.
But we are all still developing countries and our development must be impeded with so many strangers and illegals in our midst.
In Johannesburg alone you have taken over entire suburbs: Yeoville, Berea, Bez Valley, Turfontein amongst many.
You have even moved into rural parts of our country that have 80 percent unemployment; and there are no visible signs that you have jobs either.
But there are signs of drug dealing, prostitution and other criminal acts that you conduct – sometimes in cahoots with desperate locals.
Your presence at this moment in our history is our destructive and destabilising to our country and our citizens.
Yes, we want to be proudly part of the geographic construct called Africa, but we are different from one another as Kenyans are from Nigerians, Ivorians from Chadians etc… we are pleading with you to return to your home countries.
As our King Goodwill and many other great leaders have asked.
Go and build up those countries so that we can all live in economic, social and political prosperity and peace – as neighbours.
The genocide in this corner of Africa will be far worse than what happened in Rwanda in 1994. Then the entire continent will be condemned to ashes.
Is that what you want?
Our people built this country with their blood and tears, nut built it we did.
For you to come here and take jobs at cheaper rates, use and abuse our scarce resources, schools, hospitals, shelters, clinics, parks, streets – even our churches and shacks and open spaces to live in while shops are literally running out of food) and further add to already high crime rates, IS WRONG and IMMORAL.
South Africans not fully employed or who were found guilty of crimes, were recently repatriated from Nigeria and rightly so.
Our people are preparing for war against all foreigners (from Bulgaria to Pakistan and Bangladesh to Africa North of the Limpopo) and we are all very scared.
Please GO HOME and BUILD Africa.
Millions will die if you don’t.
This we can guarantee.”
While I cannot attest to the authenticity of this letter, the fact that it has been passed around for the past week and I have encountered it on numerous social media platforms points to the seriousness non-South Africans are taking it.
We are celebrating 35 years of independence and yet our fellow Africans over the Limpopo are yet to free their minds from myopic views that are no different from those their oppressors held under the Apartheid regime.
Even if foreigners were to leave en mass today, I would bet you my last dollar that black South Africa would turn on each other in no time pointing fingers at each other along tribal lines.