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By Owei’s Lakemfa

South Africa  united  Africa and the Black Race more than any other as we fought Apartheid, one of the most evil systems humans  ever created.  Apartheid was backed by some of the most powerful countries in the world such as the United States, United Kingdom and Israel which  also practices an   Apartheid variant  called Zionism.  But, even as newly emergent countries from the other European evil, called colonialism, African nations  were sure of victory.

Emperor Haile Selassie  on October 4, 1963 majestically stood before the United Nations General Assembly  and told the world that: “ until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned…that until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race…And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed…until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.”

Africans  fought side by side with our South African brothers and sisters. In Nigeria, citizens contributed money for the liberation movements including today’s ruling African National Congress, ANC. We provided South Africans Nigerian passports and, scholarship to study in our universities. I went to the university with some of our South African and Zimbabwean brothers.

As an African proverb says: “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion” We tied up Apartheid and their powerful supporters  and overcame them. Tragically today, some African countries are uniting, not to further African unity, but to fight  South Africa for xenophobic attacks on other Africans. Our South African brothers and sisters claim other Africans are taking their jobs. This is clearly delusional as the ‘jobs’ are actually not those South Africans want to do or have skills to do. How does a fellow African hawking sweets  or second hand clothes translate to taking jobs?

Ironically, the actual jobs taken are by Whites who in the first place, never relinquished them after Apartheid. Most serious is the fact that whereas the basic reason for the liberation war was for the Black people to retake their lands and economy. Both remain in the hands of the White population and, the response of the South African population is not to challenge this, but to continue hero worshipping their former oppressors while attacking their hapless fellow Africans.

The reaction of some African countries has been swift.  For  instance, on May 6, 2026, President Duma Boko of Botswana is reported to have declared a state of emergency and pronounced  drastic measures against South Africa. These include  cutting electricity supply  to several provinces in South Africa, closure of its borders and the immediate return of all its citizens currently residing in South Africa. He told South Africans “We helped you fight oppression, and today our children are being humiliated”.

Tanzania, another Frontline State in the war against Apartheid  reportedly threatened to deport South Africans and  order the   suspension of all air and maritime trade between both countries. Nigeria had summoned the South African High Commissioner while angry parliamentarians decided to urgently engage their South African counterparts. There were also calls that South African businesses in Nigeria such as the  telecom giant  MTN and, pay television,  DStv,  should be closed down and diplomatic relations, reviewed. Other African countries reacting angrily to the xenophobic attacks include Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya while the Economic Community of West African States,  ECOWAS Parliament  directed its  Political Affairs Committee to intervene in the matter. The African Union, AU and United Nations have also waded into the crises urging restrain. It is quite necessary for Africans to intervene in a constructive manner as South Africa which has failed to meet the basic needs of its people  in the post-Apartheid period, need to be pitied.

I agree that the Cyril Ramaphosa leadership has not been fort right as it hides behind talks of the need for foreigners to have proper documentation and be law abiding. First, the mobs roaming Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Province are not asking for papers before attacking alleged migrants. Secondly, those being attacked were not being lawless when the mobs set on them.  Whatever reaction  we take, must also put into consideration the fact that majority South Africans, like our very dear  brother,  Julius Malema  does not support the madness on the streets. Apart from the failure of the South African government to meet the basic needs of the people and therefore, may find the attacks, a welcome diversion, there is the high possibility  that what we might be witnessing is the mob being used to act out a script.   South Africa is perhaps the strongest economy in Africa, the most courageous in seeking to bring the war criminals in Israel to justice and, unapologetically in the forefront  of the fight for a new international economic order.  So, if there is a convergence of African countries against South Africa, it will gladden the hearts of those who want the present rotten international  order to continue.

As we all know, the socio-economic liberation of Africa depends on the integration of the continent. So, we must unite rather than splinter.  I am not opposed to the use of pressure and diplomatic actions against South Africa, but it should not be disruptive. In other words, we  should handle South Africa in the corrective way parents handle  their children. Unfortunately for us, we do not have perceptive    African leaders with  moral authority who can call erring leaders to order. I am talking about people like Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela. Nigerian  President  Bola Tinubu is visiting  France,   Kenya and Rwanda.

Can you imagine the effect he would have were he to also land in South Africa to discuss with President Ramaphosa on  ending the xenophobic attacks? That is what Nelson Mandela would have done. Even former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo  is capable of such decisive action.

I recall  the July 16, 2003 coup against President Fradique de Menezes of Sao Tome while he was  on a state visit to Nigeria. Obasanjo would have none of it. He rejected the coup, mobilized regional leaders to apply pressure,  and offered the coup plotters led by  Major Fernado Pereira, amnesty.  On July 23, 2003, Obasanjo took the elected President back to Sao Tome to resume duties.

President Tinubu in  taking a decisive diplomatic step  by flying to Pretoria will not be taking risks, compared to that taken by Obasanjo.