By Obed K. Katureebe
South Africa is in the news, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. Imagine, Black Africans chasing and lynching fellow Africans out of their country. No doubt, most migrant Africans have flooded South Africa looking for economic fortunes. For some time, South Africa has been the number one economy in Africa because of its highly diversified GDP, world-class financial sector, abundant mineral resources and advanced infrastructure.
As a result, many migrant Africans went to South Africa and tried their luck in that big economy. They went there, either as professionals that the new post-apartheid government badly needed, or as entrepreneurs to tap into the benefits of this big and vibrant economy.
Most Africans being hunted and chased do not necessarily work within the government structures. They are vibrant businessmen and women who have become so successful, hence attracted the envy of the sleepy South Africans. They are now being chased by the indigenous vigilantes, shouting all lousy nationalistic rhetoric, in order to steal their hard-earned wealth.
Migrant Africans went into South Africa with a high sense of innovation, contrary to the general mindset of South Africans that are still obsessed with welfare freebies from their government. As a result, this has made them lag behind in the field of Jua Kali business and entrepreneurship. Even if they succeed in chasing away all migrant Africans on their land, this won’t make them rich; because whatever they grab from the fleeing neighbours will not be sustained, because they didn’t build it.
A similar thing happened in Uganda in the early 70s when the then President of Uganda, Idi Amin, nationalised the Indian businesses, chased them out of Uganda and handed their businesses over to Ugandans. As expected, Ugandans ran them down and what followed was a complete nosedive of the economy to the detriment of the citizens.
Creativity and entrepreneurship of non-citizens in any country should never be seen as an obstacle to the indigenous people of any country. On the contrary, it should be seen as knowledge freely transferred to the indigenous people, such that they improve their own skills and innovations for complete transformation of their own communities.
Anti-migrant violence and hostility by Black South Africans against other Black African nationals is primarily driven by severe socioeconomic struggles, high unemployment and competition for limited resources. Tensions often peak during economic downturns, leading to deeply rooted xenophobic sentiments.
South Africa struggles with extremely high jobless rates, particularly in low-skilled sectors. Many unemployed locals feel that undocumented immigrants and foreign nationals are taking the few available jobs, as some employers hire them for lower wages.
Migrants are often scapegoated for the country’s systemic issues, including overstretched public healthcare systems, inadequate public housing and localized infrastructure failures. Some locals and political groups blame foreign nationals for localized crime rates, illegal economic activities and the operation of undocumented businesses in townships and low-income areas.
South Africa is the primary economic hub for the southern African region, drawing high volumes of legal and undocumented migration from neighboring countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.
Therefore, South Africa’s problem is what President Yoweri Museveni refers to as ideological bankruptcy. People who end up creating problems where they never existed. It is important for leaders to always bring the most acceptable and progressive ideology, for the people to solve problems with a transformative agenda.
Indeed Julius Sello Malema, who is the founder and leader of Economic Freedom Fighter, a communist and Black nationalist political party, castigated the bankruptcy his fellow Black countrymen had demonstrated. He wondered if chasing away fellow Africans, all of whom were self-employed, was solving the problems of unemployment in South Africa.
Therefore, Africans from rich countries or even the poor ones need national ideology, developed and popularized to all the citizenry, around which to harness all our energies, so that our superficial differences in form (tribes, religion, political persuasion etc), do not form points of fissure, but points of strength, which we love to call “unity in diversity.”
At the foundation level, all producers of industrial or agricultural goods can only survive, grow and develop in a larger market where businesses prosper. When businesses prosper, economies grow. Then, as leaders, we can talk of prosperity and socioeconomic transformation becoming a reality, not a mere slogan.
Therefore, strategic security, collective bargaining power and a larger market for goods and services at a sub-regional, regional and continental level, becomes an imperative for a Pan-Africanist ideological posture. To this effect, Pan-Africanism and socioeconomic transformation are more or less, Siamese twins, each being a necessary part of the other’s equation.
For now, let’s celebrate the achievements we have so far, after the struggles that culminated into our political independence, as we forge ahead to build the ideological radar that will guide Africa in whatever policies we design, for our sustainably prosperous future! The writer works with Uganda Media Centre. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
