#XENOPHOBIA: SOUTH AFRICA THE VIOLENT COUNTRY

 Like I use to say it is understandable when the white people turn against the black people, when a white man just wakes up one morning and decide to kill an innocent soul just because he his black but I don't think I can make any sense out of this; a black man killing another black man over nothing.

As Africans we all want to put an end to racial discrimination, we all want to go to a white man land and be treated like a white man but how can we successfully do that when back in our own land we can’t accommodate each other. I am not surprise that there is violence in South Africa because if you are conversant with the story of South Africa then you would know they are one of the most violent nations in Africa. What baffles me about this violence is the killing of other African citizens for no just reason and I must say if drastic measures are not taken and kept in place these xenophobia attacks would continue forever.

As Africans we are suppose to live in harmony, lives like families but with the latest xenophobia attacks the South Africans have showed us that the best way they think they can solve problem is through violence. Countries like Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe have all been good host to South African citizens living in their country but the same thing cannot be said about citizens of these countries that are living in South Africa.

I know some of you would say it was what the Zulu king said that lead to the recent attacks but I would say South Africans are always ready for violence they just need something to pull the trigger. So what if a king should say that the foreigners in their country should pack their bags and go, that one man opinion, an opinion that is now been claimed to have been misinterpreted. But let even say he meant it, that speech didn't say the locals should start killing foreigners, the speech was directed to the foreigners and not the locals, so tell me how possible is it that it was the king speech that sparkled the recent attacks. In Africa it is now becoming a trend for kings to just open their mouth, say whatever they like because they feel they have the right to but that doesn’t mean the citizens should result into violence. Let use the Lagoon Speech made by the Oba of Lagos as example, did you hear that the Igbo’s because of that went to war, no they did not because they are not a violent people. Comparing the speech made by both kings and the time frame they both gave the speeches I would say that of the Oba of Lagos is a violence erupting speech compare to that of the Zulu king yet there was no violence in Nigeria.

The xenophobia attacks have been on since 1994 but the most recent attacks before these ones are the ones that occurred between 2008 and 2013. The 2008 attack started when the locals attacked citizens of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe killing two and injuring forty. On 30^th May 2013 a Somalia was stoned to death and this was captured and shared on the internet and in June three Somali shopkeepers were also killed and also in that same June another Somalia was stoned to death.

All these attacks were before the said speech made by the king and it only proves that it wasn’t the king speech that led to the recent attacks, it was just a time bomb that was waiting to explode. The South African government has also not done enough to help with matters, it took up to a week for the president Zuma to address this issue and when he even decided to address the issue those that were present said his body language was not in support of what he was saying. “You came here with a prepared speech, your body language doesn’t support any other leader who is concerned about the killings in Kwazulu Natal but when you were defending the spending in Nkandla your body language was very stronger than when you were condemning the violence.....” this was the statement said by the Julius Malema after the President Zuma had come out to condemn the xenophobia attack and this also proves further that the government aren’t doing anything concrete concerning this matter.

I believe that the South Africans might have gained freedom by winning the Apartheid war but they are still mentally trapped within the Apartheid war. The South African people are still hurt by what transpired during that time, the kids that witnessed those events have now fathered children with the mentality “it is us or them” that was in place during the Apartheid regime. South Africa as a nation would not be able to stop these violent acts till they get past the Post apartheid-trauma and get rid of the “us or them” mentality.