Burnt victim on the ground
Mob patrolling Jo'bourg streets in search of immigrants
Something very disgusting and disturbing is unfolding in South Africa, the bastion of hope for the continent. It started as a joke some weeks ago but it is actually gaining momentum as the days go by, raising fears that it might grow to take roots soon.
Club-wielding youths are attacking and killing immigrants without any justification. What has emerged as the background for the latest madness is the exhibition of extreme xenophobia by the mob against their brothers and sisters from nearby Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Pakistan and some other communities staying and doing legal business in South Africa.
As at Monday, the death toll had reached 22 but the mob were not yet satisfied as they continued to rampage on the streets of South Africa and hacking their enemies to death with ease.
It is difficult to understand why the police are merely firing rubber bullets into a crowd that it killing and maiming innocent persons in broad daylight. Most annoying is the scene in which a victim set ablaze by the mob is being spread with fire extinguisher by the police minutes after he had been set on fire. Where were the police when the attackers struck?
If it is a joke, let the government and people of South Africa remember that the country emerged from the brink of segregation to arrive at the present state. In those days when the ignoble apartheid kept Mandela and his compatriots in prison, the world rose in unison to condemn the atrocious act and it finally ended. It would be a serious setback for anyone to stoke the fire of apartheid in South Africa when the scars of the previous one are still fresh in our mind.
Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma must rise at once and put an immediate stop to the folly. The world cannot afford another apartheid in that country.
links:
New York Times
Punch
ANC
BBC
Timesonline
2 comments:
As you observed, it's shocking that the South African police could not stop the violence that claimed the lives of many migrants. It also raises the question whether the security forces are not accomplices behind the scene. Otherwise, one would conclude rightly that South Africa is a lawless country, and not the investors' destination in Africa as western investors would make us believe. The violence against migrants whose countries sacrificed a lot for the anti-apartheid movement must stop, otherwise one would begin to think that the whites did no wrong in introducing apartheid in the first place.
odudu okpongete, Washington DC
The good thing now is that the government feels ashamed about the horror caused by the killer-mobs and has now called in the army to quell the onslaught. Let us wait and see what comes out of this latest intervention by the administration.
Soni Daniel
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