WeeklySA_AdminTIDE: Violence and rhetoric may be spreading, but the anti-migrant push is built on shaky ground and shrinking legitimacy…
By Sekola Sello
When I was a young lad at higher primary or elementary school, as it is called in some countries, I read about one Viking leader, the legendary King Canute or Canute the Great.
The first version was that this Danish-born prince, who seized the thrones of his native land, then England, Norway and other parts of North Western Europe, was a vain and delusional king who believed that because of his power he could control the elements such as ocean tides.
For the better part of my primary and high school days, this is the version of history I knew. The name had become synonymous with individuals who are delusional.
What we have seen in the past few
weeks are the kicks of a dying beast…
Later in life, I got to know a different persona of Canute. He was depicted as someone full of piety and humility. It is said he was generous to a fault. Is this political correctness or is this an honest attempt to correct the wrong that had been visited upon Canute. I do not know.
Where does the story of Canute and the tide originate from? According to those who espouse the new version, the flatterers and sycophants who inhabited his court were spreading the narrative that he was so powerful he could command the tides.
It is said Canute wanted to disabuse them of this nonsense. By failing to control the tides, he demonstrated to them that secular power was subordinate to the power of God
Acting Canute-like has also come to mean trying to achieve the impossible, engage in a futile exercise. I thought about these Canute metaphors while observing the excitement generated by the Abahambe supporters in some parts of the country, but especially in KwaZulu Natal.
I am citing the apocryphal legend of Canute to reassure many men and women of goodwill throughout the length and breadth of this country that the actions of these Afrophobes should not make them to despair that evil is winning. These people are fighting a losing battle. They do not represent the sentiments and feelings of many of our people towards non South African Africans.
Many of our people have been appalled, outraged and angered seeing the glee on the faces of some Black men and women of various ages chasing away Black Africans in places such as Durban and destroying the wares these poor souls are selling in the streets of this coastal city. Durban seems to be the epicentre of this hatred although other cities in the Eastern Cape are also reported to have joined the fray. The anti-immigration campaign might seem to be gaining momentum countrywide.
Last week they took their campaign to parts of Gauteng. They were in the Johannesburg Central Business District, Hillbrow and Yeoville. They were also in Ekurhuleni and they took a list of their demands/grievances to government in Tshwane. In Gauteng, they were peaceful in the main.
These so called foreigners have left their countries for a variety of reasons including terrorism activities in some parts of Nigeria, Somalia, the Democratic of Congo and Mozambique. Yet they are being hunted down like vermin.
Some are driven away from their homelands because of hunger which in some cases has been brought about by misgovernance and corruption by their governments. Being economic migrants cannot be held against these wretched souls as seems to be the attitude of some South Africans
There are many reasons why this evil is going to peter out very soon – even though we must accept that it will have caused a lot of suffering and hardships to some people.
As I said earlier, I believe that the majority of Black South Africans, in whose name this evil is visited upon fellow Africans, do not support it.
March and March has operated under the misguided belief that amaZulu monarch King Misuzulu Ka Zwelithini and Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) endorse their actions.
King Misuzulu has condemned attacks on foreigners. Perhaps not strong enough. Two weeks ago, the President of MKP, Jacob Zuma, also criticised these attacks.
Speaking for the first time on this issue, he said that it was unacceptable that those who had given refuge to Black South Africans during the anti-apartheid struggle are now being persecuted by those that they had helped. Powerful words indeed. Unless of course he is, like many politicians, speaking with a forked tongue.
Elsewhere, Botswana President Duma Boko recently stated that the country is going to introduce policies that will make it easier for Zimbabwe nationals to enter the country. He gave an imaginary example of the challenges a Zimbabwean faces if he wants to visit relatives in Botswana.
“For this uncle (imaginary) to visit relatives for a wedding, a funeral or family matters he needs a passport which he may not have because it is expensive. An ID should be enough to allow him entry”.
Botswana already has this agreement with Namibia and plans are in the pipeline to extend it to Zambia. It does not require an analytical mind to foresee this happening between Lesotho and South Africa.
Former President Kgalema Motlanthe suggested this years ago and its introduction was to be used as a pilot project for the rest of the South African Development Community.
Many Basotho are rightly aggrieved whenever they are harassed and humiliated by law enforcement officers in the Free State, in particular, and some parts of Gauteng. Basotho are the historic natives of the whole Free State, some parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
British treachery
Britain, which was the most powerful colonial empire in the nineteenth century collided with the Boers, to rob Basotho of the largest chunk of their stable ancestral lands and forced them into the present rocky, overpopulated piece of territory.
If it was not for British treachery, a gold mining town such as present-day Welkom, would be part of Lesotho. The Free State maize belt would help the economy of this poverty-stricken country..
Basotho would, in all likelihood, have no need to seek employment in South Africa in large numbers and expose themselves to humiliation.
The ability to travel freely in South Africa with IDs will end this humiliation. It will also reduce tensions over Lesotho’s claims for the return of what they call the Conquered Territory.
Eswatini too has claims over certain parts of Mpumalanga. I must confess that I do not know the sentiments of Batswana regarding parts of North West and the Northern Cape. But I have no doubt that open borders would minimise any potential trouble spots in the future.
What Botswana is doing is in line with the objectives of African Continental Free Trade Agreement. This agreement, to which South Africa, is a signatory aims at making it easy for Africans to travel throughout the continent. The secretary-general of the organisation, Wamkele Mene, is a South African.
Once South Africa signs this agreement with Lesotho and SADC states also implemented it, I wonder how the Abahambe Brigade, the Patriotic Alliance and Action SA, will respond to such developments.
The PA, in particular, are going to be eviscerated by this. The entire political plank of the PA is based on attacking so-called foreign Africans.
Kenny Kunene, the party deputy president, has vowed to rid places such as Hillbrow of foreigners in next to no time, if elected mayor of Johannesburg in the coming local government elections scheduled for November 4.
The opening of the borders especially within the SADC region will neatly pull the rug under the Abahambe Brigade. Forget about the optics that might have shown that they have support beyond the borders of KZN. Theirs is a circus and I believe that the shops that they had closed in Durban have since reopened.
I believe that what we have seen in the past few weeks are the kicks of a dying beast. As we say in my language, “ha e shoa e ya Raha”.
Sekola Sello is a retired veteran journalist
