This archive report was first published on 4 September 2019.
Published on September 4, 2019, by Jenerali Ulimwengu, an advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam and chairman of the board of the Raia Mwema newspaper.
As I reflect on the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, I am reminded of an old parable about two naked runners. The story goes that a person takes a dip in a river, only to notice that someone else has picked up their clothes and is running away with them. The instinct is to chase after the thief, but who is to know that the person in the water is not the real madman?
Similarly, the Nigerians are saying enough is enough, and they want retaliation against South African companies in Nigeria. They want these companies to close shop and go home, and some are even calling for physical violence against South Africans in Nigeria. But is this reaction not a case of the two naked runners all over again?
The executives of Mr Price, Shoprite, MTN, and DSTV are not responsible for the xenophobic madness that has gripped South Africa. They are rather indicative of the sad reality of the great success that the apartheid regime scored in planting in the minds of millions of Black South Africans the notion that all their ills are caused by their brothers and sisters from north of the Limpopo.
This is a debilitating mental illness that has gripped our people in that country, and it needs some serious and painstaking work on the part of the South African leaders to re-educate their criminally ignorant populace and help them heave themselves out of the mire of self-derision.
Already, through attrition, we have lost Reginald Thambo, Nelson Mandela, Johnston Makhatini, Robert Resha, Thomas Nkobi, Duma Nokwe, Thamsandla Sindelo, Willy Khosisile, and others who could attest to the sacrifices made by Nigeria, and a handful of other counties on the continent, to support the struggle against apartheid.
It is incumbent on this generation—which will, alas! soon disappear too—to educate their people in the glorious history of the contribution made by these countries. Of course, in the rat-race on the gravy train that has captured many of our former comrades, we will not see many volunteers taking up the task of disabusing their people of their apartheid-induced idiocy.
