The black side of South Africa

South Africans are killing African immigrants, accusing them of taking their jobs from them in a country where official unemployment is 24 per cent and unofficially around 35 per cent . It has a population of 53 million, of which 4.6 million are whites, 40 million blacks and the rest mixed and Indians. Available statistics indicate that about 13 million blacks are unemployed.

Therefore, of the employable black population, one out of every two black persons is unemployed, and about 70 per cent of those employed work in the earth’s belly as miners on 10-12 hour shifts daily. This is the sad and shameful reality of the ANC’s legacy and rule in South Africa, 20 years after the end of white dominance and apartheid!

The vast majority of blacks suffer from lack of basic social amenities and housing, highest incidence of HIV Aids and rape cases on the continent, broken dreams and hopes, pain and disillusionment.

The fact is, the human capital that drives the South African economy is about 95 per cent white, including officers in the police and military, the Judicial Service, financial services and the formal business sector!

Failed quota system The ANC introduced the Black empowerment policy as a form of quota system to correct the imbalance between blacks and whites, and bring blacks into the mainstream of the economy, but this system has failed to address the imbalance and has rather introduced a second force, which is totally corrupt, unsympathetic to the black cause and plight, greedy beyond description, arrogant, racist and very political.

This second force is a creation of the ANC for themselves and their black business cronies. These new black oligarchs run, rule and control all the business holdings of the ANC’s so-called Black empowerment movement. The attitude and appetite of these oligarchs are worse than those of the white apartheid system. They have replaced apartheid with something equally sinister but darker. Perhaps this is what George Orwell had in mind when he wrote “Animal Farm”.

So much controversy surrounds the business dealings of the oligarchs, such that many have faced investigations but because of their political connections within the ANC, no investigation has yielded any conviction. This is the new reality of South Africa!

Since 1994, African migrants have relocated to South Africa to do genuine business, mostly trading, professional work and menial work that is shunned by the average South African. The vast majority of these migrants are self-employed.

The tragedy is even though, these migrants hardly compete with the average black South Aricans for jobs, they have been used as the excuse by the ANC, politicians and other key stakeholders to defend their failed policies.

Sowing seeds of Xenophobia Xenophobia did not suddenly walk into the hearts and minds of South Africans. No! It was impregnated, carefully nurtured, enormously fed, and prematurely ripped in caesarian fashion from their bellies and presented in royal and state drapes amid patriotic political lullabies to all South Africans.

What is happening is not by accident but rather the birth of a “beloved son” to a happily married couple. When the Zulu king stated a few weeks ago that “foreigners should go back to their countries,” he should or ought to have known that he had officially given his royal blessing to the carnage that we are witnessing today.

The delayed response and action by the authorities and the ANC government signalled their passive and irresponsible attitude to the African immigrants, who are disdainfully referred to as “makwerekwere” by the rank and file of South Africans.

The tragedy is the prominent role which the politicians, key stakeholders (unions and other organised groups) and the king of the Zulus have actively played in bringing out the very worst in a people deeply polarised by their politicians and ruthlessly impoverished by their own leaders! As said by Malcom X after the murder of John F. Kennedy (JFK), “this is a case of the chicken coming home to roost”.

Recently in Ghana, there has been an upsurge in court cases against South African companies by their Ghanaian partners. The charges are almost always the same: unfair, prejudicial, racist, disrespectful, arrogant, unilateral in decisions, dishonest, playing double standards and showing gross disregard for their Ghanaian partners and workers. Ghanaians, as a people, are renowned for their hospitality but there is a huge chasm between being stepped on and being treated as a doormat, and being accommodating and hospitable.

Are we to take a cue from our brothers and sisters in South Africa and address the racist South African menace in Ghana in the same way they are treating the “makwerekwere” in their backyard?

Definitely not! We pride ourselves on being civilised, intelligent and true Africans! But our leaders, key stakeholders and chiefs must, of necessity, rise as one and, with one unequivocal roar, condemn South Africans for who they truly are and most importantly expunge the existence of arrogant, disrespectful and racist South African behaviour from our motherland!

The writer has a case pending in court against a South African company for racist, prejudicial and dishonest behaviour. He lived and worked in South Africa as the Regional Manager, Africa & Middle East Division for Colgate Palmolive USA, from 1996 to 2000.