Worse so, they took the law into their own hands by ruthless attacks on foreign nationals including those who had not even violated any provision of the laws of the country.
My concern, therefore, is that if the law is of such value to South Africa and they are expecting everyone within the boundaries of their territory to be law abiding, why then disregard it to such alarming levels themselves? I would also like to express great disappointment in the way they show their remorse instead of doing serious damage control and humbly apologising to the African family.
There is no need to emphasise on the importance of legality and consequences of illegality as though it was the main cause of the ruthless murders, as for the record, many of those foreigners whose shops were looted are legal in the country. Even those formally employed by registered companies and government departments are also legal in the country. So how then do they emphasise on the documentation issues now? I hope they are not just hiding behind the illegal immigration finger.
Furthermore, they are calling upon the same people to assist the police in identifying undocumented foreigners which in essence incites more xenophobia tendencies. I would suggest that those in position of influence must leave the issue of documentation to relevant government departments rather than asking ordinary citizens to it.
The recent SADC Extra-Ordinary meeting left myself and many others with open wounds in our hearts especially following the speech and comments by SADC Chair and Zimbabwe’s Head, President Mugabe. He mentioned the migration of foreign nationals into South Africa as voluntary and wilful which is surprising us to say the least. Could President Mugabe by any standard of evaluation be genuinely not aware of the circumstances leading people to leave their countries? Is he not aware or is he clueless of the economic meltdown in his own country?
Currently, Zimbabwe has among others the highest unemployment rate coupled with further threats of unjustified retrenchments to more people as from this May 2015, thereby worsening the existing unemployment rate in the country. It was shocking mockery to the majority of our people who survived not on any initiative by the government of Zimbabwe but through their sons and daughters who took an initiative to go out for hunting as though it was a country without a government.
A number of my fellow Zimbabweans believed the government′s statements and misinformation saying the country was under economic sabotage from the west, or our former colonial masters. As ZIM-ID, we recognise our people decided to help the dire situation as individuals by going out of the country to look for even menial jobs so that they can reduce the number of people dying due to lack of very basic government services since it was and still remains bankrupt.
I can safely say that under the disguise of economic sabotage, President Mugabe’s government was just playing a traumatising psychological game with innocent people, having failed to efficiently manage national resources.
My heartfelt condolences and prayers are extended to all the families from across Africa of those who lost their lives through these deplorable xenophobic attacks. I wish a speedy recovery to those who suffered physical and direct psychological injuries. I’m indeed still traumatised by visuals and pictures of such violent incidents of xenophobia in South Africa, and am hopeful that working together we can find true lasting peace.
Post published in: Africa News