South Africa must take responsibility for its actions
I was shell-shocked when I read and saw events of xenophobic attacks in South Africa that stretched for about two weeks. I have still not overcome my disbelief that one human being could visit on another such mayhem for the simple reason that he or she is a foreigner.
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Granted that in the fever to see foreigners leave, there would be one or two skirmishes here and there, but the degree to which the wickedness against fellow Africans was extended beggars belief and goes deeper than merely accusing other nationals of 'stealing their jobs'.
For instance, what kind of job was an alleged 14-year-old boy, tightly tied with hands behind his back and torched, going to take from a qualified South African, and yet there was no mercy shown as he and four others were made to brutally meet their deaths.
The recent event of xenophobia is about the third in that country since it became independent. Even though the number that died his year was small as compared to the 67 that died in 2008, a single life lost is no mean thing and this madness, if I may term it so, must not be made to happen again.
Arresting the situation
I have been to South Africa a couple of times and made friends there, and I can say without equivocation that it is not all black South Africans who are cruel, but only a lunatic fringe that must be stopped and so they do not continue to drag the name of the beautiful country in the mud.
Though the South Africa Government has come out to condemn the attacks, some of its actions to stop the bloodshed came a little too late. I am tempted to believe that they were initially in self-denial and just wished it was not happening. What they could have done from the onset was to have delayed a state of emergency in those communities where the incidences of attacks against foreigners were taking place.
News that police in the economic capital Johannesburg and in the port city of Durban struggled to contain mobs who had targeted foreigners was most disturbing since a lot could have been done. It was only last Thursday that we heard that the country's army had been deployed to areas where xenophobic attacks took place. But the move had been two weeks late in coming.
Educate the people
The government of South Africa has the job on its hands to educate its people, especially the black population, on the need to coexist peacefully with people from other parts of the continent. From the pictures that have come out so far and the areas that were predominant with the terrifying and deeply upsetting situation, one can surmise it is coming from a people that are starkly ignorant and illiterate.
While in South Africa, I also got to know to my dismay that most blacks in South Africa have hardly travelled outside of their country. In conversations with some South African friends, they hardly knew where for instance Ghana was on the map of Africa.
It is for some of these reasons that the government of South Africa would have to commit funds to have the people go to school to get an education, because it is like the 'devil finding work for idle hands'. In addition, there must be social intervention programmes that would see the people, especially the poor, given support that would improve their well-being. At the moment, the disparity between the rich and the poor in South Africa is so huge, it is a little wonder that they explode in anger at the least provocation.
Zwelithini
I have heard King Goodwill Zwelithini, whose alleged statement asking foreigners to go home, say that he was not going to apologise because his statement was taken out of contest. Actually, his statement need not have been exact to get the people incensed. There are meanings behind words and any message that carried the slightest indirect implication could have given cause for attack. While it is his exclusive to apologise or otherwise, it would take nothing from him if he faced up to his gaffe and did what was honourable.
The Government of Ghana is definitely in contact with its counterparts in South Africa I believe, and I expect it to convey to that government its unreserved displeasure at what is going on there. It should make it clear to the Government of South Africa to make sure to protect Ghanaian citizens in that country and that any further death of any Ghanaian through any xenophobic attack would be blamed squarely on it.
South Africa has the institutions and the men to make things work properly and orderly as demanded of modern democracies all over the world. The xenophobic melee of 2008 was condemned by the South African Government. The recent one has also been condemned, but we cannot thrive on condemnations alone. There must be lessons learned at least. Let the government not wait for another bout of hatred for foreigners before it acts.