The recent wretched treatments on humans living
in South Africa has received worldwide condemnation. This is the second time in its history of
violence that South African youths have taken the laws into their hands to treat others like animals. In 2008, 64 foreigners were killed in similar attacks. Foreigners were burnt to death. As the South Africa human cruelty acts intensifies, 6 foreigners are reported already death and thousands fleeing the country for safety. Even though the violence stemmed from a blinded argument that while South Africans were jobless in their own country immigrants
were having all the jobs, the outcome has had diversified interpretations. Allegedly,
the flames of cruelty were ignited by comments from Zulu King Goodwill
Zwelithini, who declared that foreigners should “pack their bags” and leave, while others are accusing President Jacob Zuma’s son (Edward) who is also quoted to have exploded that the
South African government needs to stop running away from dealing with
xenophobia, and it must also stop unnecessarily accommodating foreign nationals.
“The South African Human Rights Commission
can arrest me for my comments, it’s fine. I am not the citizen of President Jacob
Zuma. I am a citizen of South Africa. My thinking is independent to
that of the president. These are my personal views and I am sticking to what I
said and I will die with it” he said. This is
a joke of very bad omen. However, it is well known and accepted principle that
education is the key to life. But this is not the case in South Africa. According
to a report released
in 2011 by the UN Development Programme, South Africa ranked 123 out of 187
countries surveyed, with a literacy rate of 88.7% (2007 figures). This means
that in South Africa, 4.7-million adults are totally illiterate as they never
had a day’s schooling in their lives, and a further 4.9-million never completed
their primary schooling and are considered functionally illiterate. Unicef’s
website quotes the literacy rate for young South Africans between 15 and 24
years of age, measured between 2005 and 2010, as 97% for young men and 98% for
young women. This is however extremely very dangerous. Former South African
President Nelson Mandela took great exceptional attempt to look into the
predicaments when he declared at the launch of the Mindset Network on July 16, 2000
that “"Education is the most powerful weapon
with which you can change the world." He knew
the fruits of apartheid will one day explode in his country. Those who want
confirmation should thereof be served rightly. The truth is that those who are
attacking African migrants are of a majority those who have not gone above
primary six.
The attacks on African migrants in South
Africa this week reminds us that the country is built on a more complex and
complicated state of nature. This is so because after decades of isolation from
the rest of the African continent, and the world, during apartheid, South
Africa finally opened up to the rest of world with bits of accumulated grieves.
Yet at the dawn of the “new South Africa” in 1994, the country became home to
many outsiders. The recent explosion is a complex
problem loaded with meaning of the term “foreigner.” Pejoratively,
the term “foreigner” in South Africa usually refers to African and Asian
non-nationals.
South
Africa’s xenophobia reflects the country’s history of isolation. Of course this
intolerance is a by-product of apartheid. For black people, apartheid was an dangerous
tool used to induce self-hate and tribalize people of the same race. For white
South Africans, apartheid was a false rubber-stamp of the white race as
superior.
It
is these two conceptions that gave rise to the myth that South Africa is not part
of the African continent, but a different place that just happens to be on the
tip of the continent. Xenophobia need to be fought and fought relentlessly. Musicians
like Bob Marley, Alpha Blondy, Lucky Dube sang down on Babylon, symbol of
justice and humanity. The fall of apartheid in South Africa can be partly
attributed to these songs; this to confirm that the voice of the people is the
voice of God. What is currently happening in South Africa requires more than
songs, if they be, maybe perhaps SARAFINA would give meaning.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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