Rustenburg - As Africa Day approaches, a Tanzanian hawker living in South Africa, has called on the continent’s citizens to unite.
Jonas Lusato Sagati Masinde said: “Africans must be united and stop hating fellow Africans (blacks) on the basis that they are from Zimbabwe, Malawi or Tanzania. We need each other.”
Masinde, who have been living in South Africa for five years, can often be seen pushing a trolley around the streets of Rustenburg in the North West province as he goes about his daily business of selling snacks.
“I am here for business opportunities, the currency in South Africa is better than in Tanzania. There are trading opportunities in Tanzania but because the value of the currency (Tanzanian shilling) is lower than the South African rand it means you earn five times less than someone trading in South Africa. That is why I am here,” he said.
Masinda said the biggest problem facing foreign nationals trading in Rustenburg was that the local municipality did not give them hawking permits, forcing them to trade illegally.
“I have applied many times without any luck. We feel we are being discriminated for not being South Africans.”
The Tanzanian national said that without the hawking permit he was not trading freely. “Municipal police take your stock if you do not have a permit. I have been a victim on many occasions,” Masinda said.
He called on South Africans to always remember that they did not achieve their freedom without the help of other African countries.
“South Africa cannot stand alone, it is standing on the shoulder of other African countries. There are South Africans working in other African countries, and big companies from South Africa are also doing business in other African countries, also they have relatives somewhere in Africa.
“If those African countries can shut out South Africa, this country’s economy will collapse,” Masinda said.
African migrants were attacked and their shops looted in xenophobic attacks that flared up across the country in the past two months. The attacks began in Isipingo, outside Durban, in March, and spread to other parts of the country. The violence claimed the lives of at least seven people, including three who were South African.
Africa Day is celebrated annually on May 25, within the African continent to mark the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, and the African Union (AU) in 2002. It is observed as a public holiday in only five African countries, namely: Ghana, Mali, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. However, celebrations are held in some African countries, as well as by Africans in the diaspora.
In South Africa President Jacob Zuma would lead the country’s inaugural Africa Day celebrations in Mamelodi, Pretoria on Sunday. Zuma is expected to use the day to raise awareness about the contribution of the African continent to South Africa’s struggle for liberation, following the xenophobic attacks in the country.
South African police said over 300 people were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in connection with the attacks.
ANA