Is there anything to learn from wave of xenophoba attacks

The recent xenophobia attacks at the tip of the continent have resoundingly demonstrated again how hypocritical Africans are. We pretend to love one another and fight against a common enemy-racism and colonisation only to end up killing each other.

To call it by name these actions are primitive and belong to world’s beyond the Stone Age. It is a pity that after weeks of xenophobic attacks, no African regional body has issued a statement against such inhumane loss of lives by the disgruntled South Africans. No leader of the nation has stood to condemn the attack of our brothers and sisters for the sin they have committed of being emigrants to South Africa.

We have all tucked our tails behind our legs waiting for the United Nations, the US or any other non-African body to vomit venom against the government of South Africa.

Yet we have leaders in Africa who promise to protect their citizens-may be apart from those outside their countries.

I am now starting to believe that South Africa is in another world altogether for it has become a demi-god; no one wants to rebuke the barbaric behaviour that has led to the loss of our brothers and sisters.

Do we have to climb on top of mountains with gigantic reminder banners that the country was assisted by citizens of other nations to be free from the monster called apartheid?  As if this is not enough, SADC and the African Union continues to show their loftiness by remaining mum when fellow Africans are being killed in such a cruel manner.

The weakness of our regional bodies to intervene and strongly condemn violence seems to be an endless weakness. We have seen disk jockeys overthrowing a sitting president in a coup but regional bodies played hide and seek even when the situation was controllable. So many coups have relieved governments of their power on the continent but no one seems to care about the welfare of the children of Africa.

When a French Newspaper office was bombed and less than a dozen people were killed the whole world was at a standstill but when hundreds of Africans are being butchered and burnt on the mother continent the very same world gives a huge blind eye, how ironical! And some have the courage to name the so-called nations humane?

It is absolutely sad to hear from South Africa’s defence minister saying the situation doesn’t require the involvement of the army when the police are miserably failing to contain the situation.

The deepest end of it all is that most of the youth, who are productive in their homesteads, nations and the continent as well are being killed. We are all immigrants somewhere!

As a continent, we need to be careful with our carelessness in acting on time, we have big lessons that we all owe the world an explanation; the kidnapping of the Chibok girls in Nigeria, all African organs folded their capable arms and only made noise in their blankets.

Those girls are nowhere to be seen yet we have powerful and influential bodies like the African Union, ECOWAS etc.

The issue of Boko Haram has reached these serious heights because we always wait for the West to intervene and we become spectators or worse end up becoming Human Rights activists for the perpetrators of violence.

Most African countries are over 50 years after independence but our thinking is as good as during the colonial period. We must break this colonized mind-set which is rusty and frequently leads us to not caring for other people’s welfare. What happened to Umunthu/Ubunthu?

African countries must learn now to create jobs for their citizens. Malawi has embarked on community technical colleges; let those who will be repatriated be encouraged to learn new skills from the colleges and be productive for mother Malawi.

This is a wakeup call to all African governments to look into avenues on reducing poverty by creating jobs. Malawi has before repatriated its citizens suffering xenophobic attacks and yet here we are spending the already little moneys the country has in its coffers for repatriations.

As it stands, a sincere official apology from the South African government on this is in order, order restored, apart from meting out punishments to those fanning these attacks.

Frankly speaking it will be a shame now to say we are Africa; we are one nation with manmade boundaries.

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