By Chiedu Uche Okoye
The people of Africa belong to the Negroid race. In addition to this, they share a common history of colonialism. It is the thread that links and unites them. African countries, however, each had their own peculiar systems of government before the advent of the white people on the African continent. From Tangayinka to Basutoland, and from Dahomey to Swaziland, Kings of African descent held sway and ruled over their kingdoms for centuries.
But the white people’s colonization of Africa disrupted the evolution and growth of Africa’s diverse systems of government. Christianity, which they brought to us, was effectively used as a tool for western imperialism in Africa. Those who became Christians were amenable to the laws of the white people. And Africans received western education, which made them active participants in the art of democratic governance in their respective countries.
African peoples’ acquisition of western education made them become aware of their fundamental human rights. And their reading of vast political literature radicalized them, too. Pan-Africanists, such as Nnamdi, Azikiwe, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah, and Obafemi Awolowo, who were men of letters, waged war relentlessly for the decolonization of the African continent. So, the wave of agitation for the political independence of African countries swept through Africa, culminating in African countries’ attainment of political sovereignty in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Then, the black people had their destinies in their hands as their people were in the saddle of political leaderships.
Oppressive white rule, however, existed in South African after almost other African countries had become politically independent. The Dutch people, who speak the Afrikaan language, found the place salutary and conducive to carry out their human activities. They subjected and oppressed the native South- Africans. In their home land, they’re required to carry “Pass” before they could travel to cities and other township suburbs. The blacks in South Africa suffered unspeakable and unpardonable indignities and deprivations during the Apartheid era.
The Apartheid era in South Africa spawned the production of literary books that document the fictionalized accounts of happenings during that period of their national life. Dennis Brutus, a South African albino, who went to jail for his agitation for equal rights for black and white people in South Africa, wrote award –wining poems about racial segregation in South Africa. Peter Abrahams, a novelist, wrote riveting novels entitled “Tell Freedom” and “Mine Boy” which depict life in the racist South Africa. And Nelson Mandela’s auto-biographical work called “The Long Walk to Freedom” is a Tour de force as to narratives on Apartheid regime in South Africa.
The subjugation and maltreatment of black South Africans outraged other people(s) across the world. And they rose up in unison to condemn it and fight for the eradication of racial crimes in South Africa. Then, the Nigerian government, which made Africa the centre piece of its foreign policy, spearheaded the move for the dismantling of the Apartheid regime in South Africa. More so, our musicians used their trade, which is music, to call global leaders’ attention to evil happenings in the Apartheid enclave, then. They sang soulfully calling for an end to the racist regime in South Africa.
Thankfully, today, the Apartheid regime had been dismantled; and South Africa is ruled by ANC, which is peopled by black politicians, with Nelson Mandela, a former prisoner of conscience, being the first black person to rule South Africa in the post-apartheid era. Since then, the rainbow country as South Africa is called has been enjoying smooth transfer of political power from one political leader to another. So, now, the country enjoys political stability, which is a force for national development.
Not surprisingly, it has a thriving, booming, prosperous, and humongous economy, which is the envy of other African countries. Isn’t it the economic giant of Africa? Today, it is the Mecca to which citizens of other poor African countries migrate. Economic reason is at the root of their exodus to South Africa. They want a better life; and South Africa with its limitless opportunities and economic wealth offers that to them. Thousands of Nigerians live there now. Citizens of countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lesotho, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, and others are living there, too.
Like America, South Africa has become a melting pot of Africa countries, with its attendant crimes and other sundry problems. Gun violence with other crimes is prevalent there. Some years ago, Oscar Pistorious, the double amputee blade runner, killed his girlfriend by shooting her. Before then, Lucky Dube, an iconic reggae musician was killed by armed robbers while dropping off his children at a venue. Hundreds of Nigerians had died in South Africa owing to xenophobic attacks, too.
Many Nigerians living in South Africa are accused of perpetrating crimes and peddling drugs. Consequently, they are targets of attacks by irate South Africans and policemen. Sadly, now, there is a resurgence of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and nationals of other African countries living there. Scores of people had been killed and their shops looted in the recent wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
But, has fellow feeling as well as feelings of African brotherhood ceased to exist in South Africa? Are those violent and murderous South Africans with short- memories? Have they forgotten how African leaders rallied to their support when South Africa was under the yoke and strangle-hold of asphyxiating apartheid regime? Then, Nigeria played a critical role in the dismantling of Apartheid government in South Africa.
The South African people’s grouse about Nigerians now, which sparked off this round of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians, is that Nigerians are taking jobs meant for native South Africans. But is that a tenable excuse admissible in court for them to carry out horrendous and grisly murder of other African people living in South Africa? South Africans’ incipient embracing of insularity in the 21st century when the world has become a global village will take it back to the primeval times. Their rhetoric and complaints about losing jobs to Nigerians and other African people bear a parallel to President Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and other issues.
South Africans should know that we belong to a common humanity regardless of our countries of origin. Their segregation and persecution of other people on the grounds of their countries of origin will have grave and unintended repercussions on them. Are South African companies like MTN, DSTV, Shoprite and others located in Nigeria not raking in millions of dollars as profit? Are black citizens of South Africa not living in other countries? We should emphasise our common humanity and get rid of divisive tendencies.
Okoye writes from Uruowulu-Obosi Anambra State