The weapon of xenophobia: World and religious leaders condemn the ongoing assault in South Africa

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By Donald Ude

South Africa, Africa’s strongest economic hub, came under the glare of the storm as world and religious leaders continued to vehemently condemn the forced eviction of African citizens from South Africa by predominantly Zulu youth.

Young South African Zulus have taken to South Africa’s major cities and streets to protest what they call the influx of illegal immigrants who they accuse of taking jobs that belong to them and putting a strain on public facilities. The youth also accused President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government and law enforcement agencies of not doing enough to evict African immigrants and therefore gave African immigrants June 30 as the deadline to leave South Africa.

Several homes, businesses and investments of foreign African citizens were destroyed while some were killed. Many of these African immigrants have fled to other countries considered safe havens while many others have been evacuated by their countries’ governments. As of today, June 30, more than 271 Nigerians have arrived at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos, bringing the total number of Nigerians evacuated to 600 courtesy of the Nigerian Foreign Ministry, even as violent protests and rampaging Zulu youth have continued unabated in the country.

Many have called the assault “Afro-xenobia” and have therefore questioned why it is only aimed at African immigrants. This even as many people continued to recall how other African countries rallied in support of their black South African brothers and sisters at the height of the apartheid regime of the white Boer South African government. When the South African Boer administration dragged several Zulu citizens to prison, such as the late Dr. Nelson Mandela who spent up to 27 years in prison and became president of South Africa upon the collapse of the pariah apartheid regime.

It may also be recalled that during the atrocious days of the apartheid regime in South Africa, several Zulu citizens were killed while many others fled the country to other African countries after being granted asylum. And in response, other countries, especially African ones, have launched many economic sanctions against the strange apartheid government that decided to subject the indigenous Zulu citizens to a lot of unspeakable inhumane conditions.

Today, more than 50,000 African immigrants have fled while several thousand are stranded on the streets, in embassies and at international airports. Some world and religious leaders like Pope Leo, President Donald Trump, Rev. Dr. Chris Oyakhilome etc. lent their voices in condemning the assault by black Zulu citizens of South Africa on other African immigrants, calling it a repeat of the history of the apartheid regime in South Africa, and thus warn against escalating the xenophobic attack to the level of the Rwandan genocide where Bhutos who blamed ethnic Tutsis citizens for their woes attacked and killed more than 800,000 Tutsis in what was seen as the most heinous genocide the world had ever seen seen.

Some of these world and religious leaders have also warned against escalating the xenophobic onslaught to the level of destruction of the hitherto thriving South African economy, which they say the African immigrants they are driving away helped build the episode of widespread genocide in the Yugoslav economy under President Slobadan Milosovic that resulted in the destruction of the country’s economy with the killing and displacement of many others.

In addition to invoking the dark history of genocide and apartheid, a popular South African Zulu youth leader and politician, Julius Malema, has warned against weaponizing xenophobia to perpetrate violence against fellow Americans which he said could turn into a chain reaction of violent xenophobic attacks against African interests in other African countries in a retaliatory manner. Mr Malema said South Africa’s Zulu youth were directing their anger and frustration at the wrong people who never took away their jobs and opportunities, adding that socio-cultural and economic factors should be blamed: “Zimbabwe and other African citizens are not to blame. The fact is that the jobs are not there and you cannot do the kind of work they do,” Malema said.

Recently, the percentage of young South Africans without jobs rose to 23%. Aside from unemployment, the crime rate has continued to increase almost uncontrollably. And what began as a government policy aimed at recovering land taken illegally by foreign immigrants and repatriating illegal immigrants by law enforcement has now been taken hostage by the mob who accuse President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of not doing enough to send away African immigrants, a compelling reason to take the laws into their own hands and thus relegate pan-Africanism to the background.