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Opinionista

Zambia and South Africa are intertwined – xenophobia must not break that bond

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Emmanuel Mwamba is Zambia’s former high commissioner to South Africa and now that country’s ambassador to Ethiopia, and Zambia’s Permanent Representative to the African Union.

Zambia and other African states supported the Struggle for liberation in South Africa, hosting exiles and giving material backing, and our trade and trade routes are interlinked – xenophobia has no place in Africa.

By now you have been numbed by the numerous horrific videos shared on social media depicting the ghastly attacks in South Africa against foreign nationals. Some are new, others are old.

The attacks cause the same outrage as when they occurred in 2008 or 2015.

And then there is the rise of fake news during this period, which causes similar outrage and tensions.

But first things first.

We must condemn, using the unerring truth, without hesitation and without resorting to excuses, avoidance of facts or entertaining justifications, the recent xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals in South Africa.

Our condemnation should be in an unequivocal and unambiguous voice. The senseless loss of precious lives, the wanton looting and damage to property are totally unacceptable.

Life is sacred. Whether foreign or local, documented or undocumented, illegal or legal, it remains sacred.

The deep fear, trauma and uncertainty caused to foreign nationals by these attacks is unimaginable.

We are all troubled that no one seems to be held accountable or punished for the killing of innocent people and the pillaging of property.

Causes for xenophobia advanced in South Africa include socio-economic reasons such as high unemployment (“foreigners are taking our jobs”), poverty and inadequate social services.

South Africa has a population of more than 56 million and contrary to what is asserted, only has a small number of foreign nationals: about 2.1 million, including Africans, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis and others.

South Africa has the most industrialised economy and its manufacturing sector is the largest in Africa (and as an export country, relies on the rest of Africa’s market). The size of its economy is only comparable to Nigeria and Egypt.

Only two Zambians out of the 15,000 in South Africa have been directly affected by the recent xenophobic attacks – one a truck driver and one a resident in South Africa.

Of course, we are not denigrating the fear of those Zambians resident in South Africa.

We must begin to put things in perspective so that we don’t encourage disproportionate or unwarranted retaliatory responses and reactions, in both Zambia and South Africa.

It must be said with reference to our rich struggle history that Zambia stands in solidarity with the rest of Africa and should never allow the injury, maiming and killing of any African and the dispossession of anyone’s hard-earned property.

But we must strike a balance.

Zambia has engineers, doctors, nurses, bankers, accountants and others earning a livelihood in South Africa’s business entities.

We also have a number of small and medium entrepreneurs and those in the informal sector. Further, Zambians have a good record in South Africa and are law-abiding residents.

However, Zambia is one of the largest trading, economic and investment partners of South Africa in the region. More than 120 South African companies have invested in Zambia, including giants like MTN, Shoprite, Standard Bank and FNB.

South African Airways flies more frequently to Lusaka, Ndola, and Livingstone than to the rest of the world. Hundreds of trucks move up and down and numerous buses transport people between the two states every day.

It is for this reason that this wave of attacks against foreign nationals affected Zambia more, as it initially was focused on trucks.

This threatened Zambia’s sea route for its imports (Durban), and also threatened trade between the two states as protesting truck drivers were threatening to blockade and destroy any foreign truck or any truck driven by a foreign national.

It must be emphasised that Zambia shares this corridor with our neighbouring states, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi. As a result, the truck traffic between Zambia and South Africa is huge.

It is also for this reason that we are investing in the $259-million Kazungula Bridge project, over the mighty Zambezi River.

Until Zambia improves tremendously our other sea routes (Tazara and Great North Road, Nakonde-Dar es Salaam Port, Chingola-Lubumbashi-Benguela rail to Lobito Bay Port, Livingstone-Sesheke-Walvis Bay Port, and Chipata-Lilongwe-Nakala Port and Beira Port), Durban so far remains our premier port.

We must find a lasting solution to these xenophobic tendencies that have become cyclical and seasonal.

Many Africans express indignation that South Africans have shown a lack of gratitude for the immense sacrifices made by countries such as Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria and others in ensuring that it attained its freedom.

This is attributed to South Africa’s youth, who form a large population of the country and might not be intimately aware of the facts.

This is the load of work that leaders of South Africa have to do. It has to be done by writing its recent history, memorialising the Struggle and introducing these facts through film, art and other popular forms of education.

We should also remember that to achieve its freedom, many South African leaders who waged the Struggle were in three categories: those who went into exile (Oliver Tambo, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and others), those who were jailed (Nelson Mandela, Govani Mbeki, Walter Sisulu) and others like President Cyril Ramaphosa, Albertina Sisulu and Winnie Mandela who waged the Struggle on the streets.

Many pillars were used to wage this long and relentless struggle, including the liberation parties and its military wings, trade unions, the church and external support from countries including Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana.

Zambia is also respected for her role during the liberation struggle.

It must be noted that no Zambian has died in the xenophobic attacks of 2008, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

Africa is marching towards free movement of people and goods. Africa is moving to being a borderless and barrier-free continent. African member states have implemented the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

Africa has achieved too much for its progress to be negated by xenophobia. DM

Emmanuel Mwamba is Zambia’s former high commissioner to South Africa and now that country’s ambassador to Ethiopia, and Zambia’s Permanent Representative to the African Union.

 

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