How ANC can help stop Afrophobia

Some of the estimated 10 000 people that marched during an anti-xenophobia peace march in Durban.

Some of the estimated 10 000 people that marched during an anti-xenophobia peace march in Durban.

Published Apr 17, 2015

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ANC leaders should tell people about the help they were given by foreigners in African countries during the Struggle for liberation, writes Joel Simbi.

Johannesburg - Dear ANC leadership. It is sad to notice that you are constantly abstaining from doing enough to suppress Afrophobic attacks in South Africa.

You know very well that South Africa being part of the SADC, AU, UN, etc, cannot survive in isolation. And for this reason, you clearly know that, whether xenophobic South Africans like it or not, foreigners who are legally living in this country are here to stay.

You also know from your conscience to the bottom of your heart that most South Africans are xenophobic and you should stop denying it.

Your mere denial of this fact is simply a loud voice encouraging South Africans to be more and more xenophobic.

You would strongly agree that the main reason why most South Africans are xenophobic is simply ignorance: you are not doing enough to teach and inform South Africans how our governments gave you free shelters, fed you, educated you, protected you from apartheid spies while you were in exile in our countries.

Some of our governments even imposed taxes on our fathers that were allocated to raise money to support the South African struggle against the apartheid regime.

You are constantly refusing to tell your people how the other African populations stood side by side with you in the name of brotherhood, loving you, sharing with you, tolerating you and never treating you as foreigners while you were in exile, but as their flesh and blood, their equals.This ignorance among South Africans is simply being entertained by yourselves and in the same logic, you are fuelling that xenophobic mentality in your people through that ignorance.

You always claim you came to give freedom to your people, where did you come from? Didn’t you come from our countries with the support from our governments?

And how can your people be free if they remain ignorant of the truth?

How can they be free if they hate the same foreigners who made it possible for you to come back to South Africa to liberate them? If you really came to free your people, we urge you to tell them the truth. Only the truth shall free them.

By freeing your people from this ignorance, their violent and xenophobic mentality against foreigners will automatically cease. We have seen that every now and then, you have been bringing back the remains of those ANC members who perished while they were safely being kept in our countries.

These opportunities should be used as a moment to tell stories of whatever help they received in these countries for the benefit of freeing South Africa and put it where it is today.

You know that while in exile in our countries, you were kept for free in luxurious mansions and some of you ran businesses while others took up various employment, such as medical doctors, nurses, teachers, and others were even employed in parastatal companies.

Tell your people this truth and set them free from this ignorance that is sparking unnecessary violence.

Please bear in mind that you owe the truth to your own conscience and you must do the right thing before your own people who hold an unnecessary hatred against their foreign brothers and sisters.

You owe the truth to your people for the sake of foreign nationals who are under attack. Please remember, you must teach the truth. Inform South Africans about how our governments made it possible for apartheid to fall.

This truth, once told to your people, will hold the needed peace between nationals and foreign nationals in this country as you owe it to Nelson Mandela, OR Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Solomon Mahlangu, Manto Shabalala, Chris Hani, and others.

This list of the ANC fallen heroes is not exhaustive. Right now, your government has a number of bilateral agreements with most of our countries and in this regard, many South Africans are staying in our countries where they are trading, or running private businesses, including mines.

Tell your people that even you senior ANC members are exploiting mineral resources in our countries for your personal interests and the interests of South Africans. Should we also influence our people back home to start resorting to violence against South African people and businesses there?

The truth is the only solution to eradicate xenophobia in South Africa: in your political rallies, your workshops, your churches, your Parliament, schools, universities… Inform all South Africans the truth about ANC history in exile.

Tell them about the good treatment, love, tolerance, brotherhood, the multiple kinds of support you received while you were in exile in our countries away from apartheid.

* The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

Pretoria News

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