How free are we?

Examining the on-going xenophobia causing untold suffering to thousands, including Zimbabweans, the speakers renamed the practice “Afrophobia” because it segregates only Africans leaving out Europeans, Americans and Asians to enjoy themselves. The meeting on the theme, “How free are we?” saw local and foreign speakers emphasizing the points relating to freedom, independence and unity of purpose among the indigenous people of Africa.

A Zimbabwean legal counsellor, Sabelo Sibanda, who tackled the question of how the people should take ownership of their freedom, was unimpressed by what he termed “leaders masquerading as the voice of the people” when they were actually just puppets.

Lets be honest

“Men and women laid down their lives for us to be free, but we are still taking our freedom since the time it was taken from our ancestors. Let’s be honest with ourselves…this puppet show must come to an end,” said Sibanda. Sibanda blasted both the Southern African Development Community[SADC] and the African Union for encouraging government to government relations and sacrificing relations between ordinary people.

Speaking on migration and African liberation, Liepollo Pheko told the audience that imperialism was no longer the enemy of Africa, but it was that the leaders were not concerned about the lives of the people. Complaining about citizenship she said there was no reason for people moving from one country to another to be treated as illegal.

“Our leaders are not always for us. There is nothing like illegal immigrants in Africa. We are all Africans, she said. On xenophobia, which she said was supposed to be called “Afrophobia”, she was apologetic: “It’s a disgrace, I am so sorry. I am so ashamed.”

Whats in a name?

As she castigated the west for dictating prices of imports from Africa she appealed to the audience saying, “Let’s go to Azania. She also revealed her contempt of the Zimbabwean authorities for continuing with the name Victoria Falls instead of the indigenous one, “Musiwoatunya”. Meanwhile, although it appears the name change programme in the country has been halted, some researchers and historians agree that the name Zimbabwe is the Anglicised version of the indigenous name “Dzimbabhwe”.

Whether the yet to be launch constitutional making process will touch upon the renaming of the country remains to be seen. The name Dzimbabwe was last used by Bishop Abvel Muzorewa when he became Prime Minister of the short-lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. Ironically when Robert Mugabe moved into the official residence he removed the name Dzimbahwe and renamed it Zimbabwe.

Addressing the same meeting on the subject “how can Africans unite” J. Kalele of the Democratic Republic of Congo berated the African leaders for failing to establish unity among the people saying Africa was not yet independent because the people were not allowed to think independently. Leaders, he said must decide on which type of unity they are interested in and what they are supposed to achieve. “I think what Africa needs is democratic unity. Africans need democratic regimes. African unity is just a copy-cat of the European Union although it is 47 years old. It will never succeed if the people are not consulted,” Kalele said.

Chosen, not elected

He urged the AU to draft a common manifesto which would also unite civil societies and Non-governmental organisations which currently cause divisions, he alleged because of their colonial mentality. “Our presidents are not elected, they are chosen. And so most of presidents we have are puppets,” said Kalele. He also attacked African governments for blaming the whites for everything that goes wrong and posed the question, “What are we doing with the science that we leart? We can’t achieve unity if we can’t invest anything.

British-born Ekau Stanford-Xosel, whose grand parents were black Ghanians, spoke on “Why Africans are xenophobic”. Agreeing with earlier speakers that the scenes in South Africa were “Afrophobia” she said the people were losing direction thanks to their unbalanced relationship with former colonial masters. “Africans are afrophobic because our identity has been shaped elsewhere. It was constructed by Europe for their benefit and our demise. We are shooting and killing ourselves. We are suffering and smiling but we are not free yet,” she told the meeting.