South Africans who egotistically describe our country as the “Gateway to Africa” should pause to learn about the energy and enterprise on the rest of the continent. A few years ago I saw a snippet that the airport was the sixth or seventh busiest on the continent, connecting more than 50 destinations around the world. It would not surprise me if it now rivalled Johannesburg in the contest for passengers and cargo.

More recently a neighbour gushed about value for money, efficiency and a quick connection of Kenya Airways to Bombay. The only drawback for him was that the flights were always overbooked. That is an airline’s dream statistic – to have more passengers than it has seats.

The thought about Bombay lingered in my mind as I pondered Nairobi with a studied curiosity. The Indian presence in Kenya is felt everywhere. From the high-rises of the central business district to the posh suburbs and right down to the petty traders at roadside stalls. Enquiring about this “alien” community, who are a tiny proportion of a burgeoning Kenyan population, one discovers a few uncanny parallels with South Africa.

For one, it was the cunning of British imperialism that brought the wave of labour migration from India in the late 19th century. While the whites cavorted in mischief in the highlands, the forebears of the current Kenyan Asian population were the ones who built the railways connecting the mosquito-infested coast to the highlands and on to the Nile.

They braved disease, death and man-eating lions to feed the colonial urgency to connect the colony for European commerce. “Asians” is the term collectively used for those of Indian descent in eastern Africa even though Chinese have become a discernible chunk of the airline traffic and trading entities.

The larger story of Asians in Africa warrants more in-depth attention as it is far too frequently misunderstood, misinterpreted and misused for political expediency, especially during difficult economic conditions. As Daniel Arap Moi’s fragile hold on power tottered at the edge of a prison wall, he sought refuge in the populist rhetoric of indigenisation zeroing in on the economic and financial success of the Asian community. There is no denying that, like in South Africa, this community in spite of its small numbers are influential in commerce, the professions and civil society. Like South Africa too, these once labour migrants were active in the anti-colonial, African nationalist and trade union movements as well as anti-apartheid prison population in numbers far disproportionate to their supposed minority status.

Writing a few decades ago, an American journalist posited: “The ironic truth is that Asians are needed in Africa, but not wanted. This hard-working, entrepreneurial community has fallen victim to its own success.”

To the cynic, quoting that might suggest self-serving propaganda. Except, though, in the bid to rejuvenate the Kenyan economy, Moi’s successor appealed to the Asian community that had left to return with their expertise and resources.

President Uhuru Kenyatta had gone so far as to gazette in 2017 the recognition of Kenyans of Indian descent as the country’s 44th tribe. He went further to invite them “to participate in the political, economic, cultural and social development of the nation”. A report at the time in its leading newspaper The Daily Nation read:

“Acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who made the announcement … on behalf of the president, noted the community’s great sense of civic duty and its key role in setting up learning and health institutions, which, he noted, serve to supplement the government initiatives.”

Here again, this track record is not indistinct from the contribution of the Indian community in various facets of South African life. My brief eastern African sojourn also took me to the Masai Mara where the lions now gawk at tourist cameras rather than train their gaze on the sweating Indians building the railroad. As I boarded my flight from there a message popped up on my phone apparently from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reply to parliamentary questions: “Perhaps it is time to challenge this idea of minorities.”

Even picking up this little stompie and not knowing its full context was enough to lift the burden of my thoughts that race-baiting and negative minority discourses serve only the demi-gods of populism, division and economic destruction. Unifying and pulling together for the purposes of mutual peace and prosperity on our continent is a far bigger prize to play for. DM