Poor leadership led to attacks

When I started this column, I argued that leadership is one of the most important issues of our time, and that leadership affects all of us in fundamental ways.

In the edition of September 19, 2007, I wrote: “What is often not realised, though, is that…the root cause of many problems facing humanity in general, and Southern Africa in particular, is the issue of leadership.” How is leadership connected with xenophobia?

We have all condemned the recent xenophobic attacks on non-nationals. We are amazed and utterly disgusted by how the poorer people of South Africa have attacked, raped and killed so-called “foreigners” from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia and other African countries. We, the privileged, are appalled by these acts of cruelty and we believe we would never do such a thing ourselves. What we fail to do is to emphasise the role that leaders may, willy-nilly, play in sowing the seeds of this violence. There are different levels of leadership responsibility.

There are many expatriates and naturalised citizens from Africa who have contributed in no small measure to the development and transformation of the new South Africa. The role that these people have played should be acknowledged by all South Africans.

However, the influx of millions of non-nationals into South Africa since 1994 has everything to do with poor leadership in their countries of origin. These daughters and sons of Africa are running away from hunger, poverty and joblessness, and all these woes result from poor leadership.

In other words, the leaders of the countries concerned have failed to bring about prosperity and development for their people. The situation gets worse where poor economic leadership is coupled with oppression, political conflict and the inability to tolerate political opposition.

When the people fleeing from economic deprivation and political oppression come to South Africa, most settle in the most disadvantaged communities, among people who are themselves victims of poverty and deprivation. Rightly or wrongly, the South Africans affected by the influx perceive the new arrivals to be a threat competing for jobs, resources and other necessities of life.

It can however be argued that poverty alone is not the cause of violent xenophobic attacks. The apartheid system which fostered not only racism but ethnicity, coupled with an absence of educational programmes designed to promote African unity and the true spirit of ubuntu, also plays an important role.

Tanzania is a very poor country. When nationalists and freedom fighters from South Africa, Rhodesia and Mozambique were struggling to liberate their own countries, they found themselves hosted in their millions by the poor people of Tanzania and of Zambia, Lesotho and Botswana. Tanzanians shared their poverty with the struggling South Africans, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans because they were imbued with the true spirit of pan-Africanism. They believed that the people of Africa were one, and that Africa could not be free until the whole continent was free from the shackles of colonialism and apartheid.

In that respect, it can be argued that there is a clear need to develop the true spirit of pan-Africanism and ubuntu in the hearts and minds of all South Africans. Despite the fact that the national anthem is called Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika—God Bless Africa—many South Africans do not seem to feel that they are part of the African continent and to know that the development and prosperity of South Africa cannot be de-linked from the development and prosperity of Africa as a whole.

This is compounded by the fact that non-nationals are officially referred to as “foreigners”, a word that has acquired the same negative connotation as the colonial words “native”, “bantu” and “kaffir”. This is in contrast to the words that are used in some African countries such as “expatriates”, “non-locals” and “non-nationals”.

Lastly, there is a challenge to Christian leaders. It has been extremely encouraging to hear Archbishop George Daniel of Pretoria and Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg condemning xenophobic attacks in the strongest terms possible.

All Christian leaders should be asking: Are there not many Chris-tians among those who have perpetrated these acts? Are there not some educated and highly placed South African Christians who publicly or privately entertain this “Afro-phobia”?

If there are, how effectively have the Gospel values of love and compassion been taught? To what extent do all South Africans who profess to be followers of Jesus genuinely believe that in the Christian community there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither Jew nor Greek, and neither free person nor slave?

Next month we will explore possible solutions to the problem.