BLAMING COLONIALISM WON’T HELP

Sir,

The xenophobic violence which keeps on erupting in South Africa is a phenomenon which is not unique to South Africa alone. With the huge increase in people migrating from poor, war-torn and mismanaged countries to rich ones, this phenomenon has been on an upward trend, globally. There has been various xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals, even in wealthy countries like Germany, the US and Australia.

Some people have a tendency of blaming all of the problems facing the African continent on colonialism, including the xenophobic violence in South Africa. However, all of South Africa’s neighbours were also once colonies of European countries and yet we do not see the same despicable behaviour against foreigners in those countries.

To simply blame colonialism for our own mistakes is tantamount to condoning those mistakes. If you do not identity the root cause of the problem but simply blame it on external factors, that problem will not go away.
In my opinion, the main reason behind the xenophobic violence being witnessed around the world is caused by the unwillingness of many governments to tackle corruption in their countries and improve the living standards of their people.

Thousands of African and Asian migrants risk their lives daily, attempting to reach the shores of the ex-colonial powers in Europe and also Australia in a bid to escape poverty and oppression in their own countries.
South Africa, being a relatively prosperous country, also faces the same problem with millions of illegal immigrants from various countries seeking a better life there. One of those countries is Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe which alone has over one million of her citizens in South Africa and the number is still increasing.

It is obvious that this situation is not sustainable and the signs are there for all to see.
And yet, Mugabe, the man who brought untold misery to his own countrymen both black and white alike, is often hailed by some as a hero and a champion of anti-imperialism even though he himself, like many other leaders was also ‘installed’ into power by the very same imperialists he loves to hate!

As I see it, the problem of xenophobia around the world will only worsen until it reaches crisis point unless issues like corruption, unemployment and poverty can be addressed, especially on our rich continent.

Swazi citizen
Mbabane

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: