Is
Africa a united continent? Are we serious about being each other’s keeper in
Africa? Why should we fight amongst ourselves to the extent of killing each
other? February 21st, 2017 will go down in the history of the
African continent as one of the saddest days for Mother Africa. This was a day
when some black South Africans decided to attack other nationals in their
country. Most of those attacked were Nigerians and other African nationals.
Their shops and businesses were vandalized and burnt to the ground. Some of
these foreign nationals also lost their lives as a result of these attacks.
Whiles
the police moved in to protect the lives and properties of these foreign
nationals, the attackers fought running street battles with them. They were
complaining about not getting jobs as a result of these foreign nationals
taking over jobs that were meant for them. But in my humble opinion and from my
readings, these same South African citizens are not ready and willing to take
up some of these so called menial jobs which the foreigners have taken up. The South African government should condemn
these xenophobic attacks and put in place measures to curb future occurrences
of this nature. My question is, why is it that most black South Africans are
still under economic apartheid? Why have they not been empowered economically?
Why do they look down on certain menial jobs but when other nationals take up
these jobs, they turn around to attack them? Should the ANC government be
blamed for these acts of lawlessness being perpetuated by some black South
African citizens? Meanwhile, I have not heard the African Union condemn these
xenophobic attacks.
Ghana’s
Parliament condemned the xenophobic attacks in South Africa and measures have
been put in place to safeguard the lives and properties of Ghanaian citizens
living and working in South Africa. When the attacks do not stop, I think we
should boycott South African products and businesses in Ghana. This will put
pressure on their government to act swiftly and curb the xenophobic attacks.
Have they forgotten so soon when almost all the African countries came together
to help them fight against the apartheid system? What if we also retaliated as
it was reported that some Nigerians wanted to vandalize some MTN offices in
Nigeria? One thing we should know is that Africans need each other to survive
no matter the situation. I am sure the western world would be looking at South
Africa with glee and their sensational media houses will have a field day
giving 24 hour updates on the situation in South Africa. They always want to
project bad news from Africa to the rest of the world. It’s time we proved them
wrong. South Africans should be ready to coexist peacefully with Africans from
other countries as they are in their country to do legitimate business and also
pay taxes to help develop the country. United we stand, divided we fall. Africa
must unite.
