THE fire could have been ignited by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini in South Africa, but deep inside the emotions palpably running high in the so-called ‘Rainbow Nation’ there could be the intrusive hand of the real foreigner; whites, playing a part in the skirmishes now affecting the whole of Africa.
It was no quirk that the xenophobic attacks currently engulfing South Africa gathered momentum the moment Cape Town University (CTU) students launched a spirited drive to have the Cecil John Rhodes statue removed from their institution.
The timing of the launch of the xenophobic attacks is too curious to be ignored and left alone, unravelled and unexplained.
While overshadowing the Rhodes statue, it speaks deafeningly of the tragedy confronting many Africans; that of imperceptible impact of whites in their political economic affairs.
There is no doubt that whites have much more to protect and defend in South Africa than worrying about a bunch of Zulus killing their fellow African brothers and sisters.
This is the factor that here in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe has sought to not only to confirm but to extinguish in order for Africans to be in charge of their political and economic destinies.
Black people from other African countries are not enemies, but it is those who use clandestine means to control other nations’ resources and economies who are the real enemies.
It is those who ferment violence in other countries that are the enemies.
It is those who fracture unity along tribal lines that are the enemies.
Here in Zimbabwe, we are still smarting from the lies emanating from ‘Gukurahundi’ that were designed to create a mindset among the people that feeds into the thrust of the whites.
Images of those perpetrating attacks on fellow Africans in South Africans sum up this point.
We have young people who have been made to believe that those Africans contributing to South Africa’s economic growth are ‘enemies’ who must be killed while the whiteman, the sole cause of their economic problems is a ‘god’.
In their minds, it is wrong for that Zimbabwean, that Somali, that Nigerian to open a shop or at the very least employ them because it is ‘master’ white’s role to do that.
In Zimbabwe, young people who follow and subscribe to the ZANU PF ideology are said to be ‘brainwashed’ by Mugabe!
Didn’t President Mugabe put Zimbabwe’s Land Reform and Resettlement Programme on hold so as not to jeopardise the talks which eventually led to South Africa’s transition to majority rule in 1994?
Was Julius Malema, the leader of opposition Economic Freedom Front (EFF) wrong when he said the root of South Africa’s socio-economic problems was ‘White Capital’?
And why haven’t we seen or read responses from Western powers who claim to be champions of democracy on the xenophobic attacks in South Africa?
One can only imagine what the response would have been like if this was happening in Zimbabwe.
Herein lies the South African problem.
About 85 percent of its wealth is being held and controlled by 8,9 percent of the white population (4,6 million), and the majority of the black population (41 million) controls only 15 percent of the economy.
And yet they actually think that the problem lies in foreigners taking up opportunities in this 15 percent.
When South Africa attained ‘independence’ in 1994, 75 percent of whites in the country had a matric qualification and just 10 percent had any higher education.
By 2014, almost all white children are passing matric while 60 percent of those aged 20 to 24 are enrolled for higher education.
In contrast, fewer than 50 percent of black children are going on to pass matric and only 14 percent of those aged 20 to 24 are currently enrolled for higher education.
Between 1994 and 2014, the rate of unemployment among white people increased from three percent to 5,7 percent.
On the other hand, 29 percent of black South Africans are currently unemployed.
Black people are therefore five times more likely to be unemployed.
The proportion of white South Africans living in poverty declined from approximately two percent in 1994 to less than one percent in 2014.
The figures for black South Africans were significantly higher, having declined from about 50 percent in 1994 to 45 percent by 2014.
With such high education, employment and poverty differentials evident, high income differentials must be expected.
This is where we condemn South Africans for failing to read the mood.
Let those with ears listen.