When I was a teenager, I asked my dad what his favourite Biblical name was. In an instant he replied Emmanuel. I was rather astounded as I expected him to mention one of the names of his children, many who have biblical names. When I asked him why Emmanuel, he mentioned that the meaning “God with Us” had special resonance with the trajectory of his life, which took unexpected twists and turns, but which always turned out ok. I would never have known the meaning of this name had I not asked my dad this question, but his spontaneous and resolute response remained firmly etched in my young mind.
So the image of Emmanuel Sithole, pleading for his life, as he was being stabbed to death by four heartless weapon-wielding South Africans, stripped his name from all its meaning. Cowering powerlessly in the face of death, he must have felt “God where are you?” The anger on the faces of his four attackers, captured so vividly by the photographer, was deeply unsettling, who subsequently told the BBC of the trauma of having to witness such a gruesome murder. His picture unmasked and exposed South Africa for what it truly is – a nation that refuses to internalise the gift of life bequeathed to it after apartheid.
Barbarous incidents such as Anne Booysen’s rape, the Marikana massacre, the “corrective rapes” meted out to black lesbians, the murder of Andries Tatane, amongst others, keep on snapping at the heels of our victory over apartheid threatening to destabilise our democracy.
The ‘Afrophobic’ and racially inspired attacks, assaults, robberies, and murders against our African brothers and sisters from across our country’s borders have been going on for more than a decade, yet absolutely nothing is done to pre-empt such carnage and build social cohesion in communities in an organised and visionary fashion. That President Zuma appoints 11 ministers and the army to quell the violence against foreign nationals points to a government that is clueless about addressing the problem of xenophobia; worse how to prevent it.
After the 2008 outbreak that had SA reeling, one would never have thought that such heinous attacks would happen again. But President Mbeki’s denial that these were acts of terror against our African brothers and sisters were racially inspired as he travelled abroad is exactly why it recurs under President Zuma’s rule.
As with Ubuntu, the African Renaissance narrative is a myth, demonstrated by the recent utterances by Goodwill Zwelethini and Edward Zuma. Their comments against foreign shopkeepers and small entrepreneurs personified a deep-seated antagonism harboured against those who not only seek refuge in SA but who also manage to create a life for themselves.
The tendency by pundits to blame the violence on the socio-economic climate of high unemployment and a competition over scarce resources, is way off the mark. It is high time that we see the scourge of violence for what it is – jealousy against foreigners who know that they cannot depend on government to help them survive, so they create small businesses and find ways to generate diverse sources of income.
That the Nigerian Senate threatens to sue SA and that Mozambique evacuates South Africans working there, show just how deeply gatvol our African Union partners have become with SA’s inflated superiority complex towards them, when, in fact, things are going horribly wrong here.
Our dubious relationships with dictators in neighbouring countries exacerbate the alienation even further. Zwelithini and Zuma’s utterances did not suddenly emerge from nowhere. They have been there all along and are part of the continuum of racism towards whites, coloureds, Indians, and any other group that is not part of the dominant group ruling the party.
Zuma junior enjoys fuelling the flames of xenophobia feeding a simmering culture of anger and self-destruction that has irredeemably seeped into the body politic of this country – an anger that sprouts from a nation who sees excessive amounts of money being siphoned away into the pockets of the ruling elite through opulent lifestyles, luxurious cars, rank consumerism and endless corruption. It is a tactic to divert the anger away from our inept leaders towards others who come here from across our borders to seek refuge and other opportunities.
The ANC’s lack of leadership coupled with entitlement undermines democracy and leads to mob rule, and gives credence to the words of an American politician who said: "Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%." The ANC should stop playing with fire because when SA explodes it will affect all of us!
