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There is a very tough striped big bag in Nigeria called “Ghana must go”, which in the current South African xenophobic attacks context, could be called “makwerekwere (foreigners) must go”. In the 1970s, Ghana faced a lot of economic difficulties while Nigeria was doing well because of the oil boom of the time. In the early 1980s, the oil boom subsided and employment opportunities were no longer readily available. In 1983, the Nigerian government then issued an expulsion order against Ghanaians and other African migrants.
More than 700,000 Ghanaians returned to their country with some of their belongings packed in big bags that are strong enough to withstand very rough conditions. Up to this day, those bags are called “Ghana must go”. However, currently more Nigerians live, work and school in Ghana than at any time in the history of the two countries. If Ghana were to do what Nigeria did, the Nigerians would be the ones to carry their belongings in “Ghana must go” bags.
Therefore, the Africans suffering xenophobic attacks in South Africa may eventually have the last laugh. Mozambique, for example, has vast gas reserves that are just beginning to be exploited and also huge mineral resources largely unexploited from the ground while gold mines in South Africa are reaching exhaustion closure levels. South Africa is hoping to import hydro power from Congo and other neighbours. At one time, I bought prepaid electricity (Yaka) and the Umeme receipt indicated that the transaction was processed in Durban, a major city and port of the Zulu king whose utterances sparked off the attacks against immigrants.
The South Africans are so insular that they persist in their Boer inherited view that Africa starts north of the Limpopo River. But “Africa” will catch up and in fact, the middle class in “Africa” is already ahead of their South African counterparts in many respects since they have no need for affirmative action like the South Africans do in a still largely White-dominated economy. However, that bright future is no consolation to the thousands of migrants currently suffering from xenophobic violence in South Africa.
Many countries have gone through these cycles of violence even against different ethnic groups in the same country. Eritreans suffered at the separation of Eritrea and Ethiopia, Banyarwanda in Uganda in 1982, most of them citizens, according to a report issued by a team headed by Prof Edward Kiddu Makubuya, suffered politically instigated xenophobic violence. The post-election violence in Kenya involved ethnic cleansing of different ethnic groups from the homelands of other ethnic groups. The same story goes on in various African countries.
There is, therefore, need to sensitise the African peoples about the dangers of fomenting ethnic violence and discrimination in Africa as in most countries, everyone largely belongs to a minority ethnic group: a minority since very few countries have majority ethnic groups. For example, in Uganda, the largest ethnic group is less than 20 per cent of the population and each of the others comprise smaller percentages of the total. Secondly, large numbers of people have emigrated from their homelands to others’ homelands where they become minorities. Then you find everyone also part of a religious minority or one of many other minority types.
It is, therefore, necessary that the African Union and SADC should take up this matter because of its repetitive occurrence in South Africa and in order to put in place measures to prevent, manage, mitigate and control any xenophobic occurrence in any country in Africa. An African continental protocol against xenophobia could become a basis for national laws against ethnic discrimination and xenophobia.
Mr Ruzindana is a former IGG and former MP. a_ruzindana@yahoo.com
