Africa Unite No to Xenophobia

The new chancellor of the University of South Africa (Unisa), former South African President Thabo Mbeki on Monday condemned the recent anti-immigrant protest march, which was preceded by attacks on foreign nationals in different parts of Gauteng.

"As South Africans, we should never forget the enormous sacrifices that were made by the sister people of Africa, to help us achieve our liberation. We cannot now behave in a manner that treats fellow Africans, who are now residents in our country, as enemies or unwelcome guests. Neither should we commit the offence of viewing or characterising African migrants in our country as criminals."

Mbeki's speech should clearly send a positive message to all South Africans who engaged in violence attacks against foreign nationalities. Mbeki says attacking migrants will never solve challenges facing the country.

"Many of us know that our country faces many socio-economic challenges such as poverty and unemployment. Not even one of these problems can or will be solved by attacking fellow Africans who have joined us as migrants."

Africans or any other nationality  whether one is from Southern Africa, North Africa, Equatorial Africa, Central Africa or any other part of Africa people must never, never, never become enemies. It's high time that fellow Africans respect, love, advise each other and work for the betterment of us Africans. The culture of all our people, black and white, and despite the many centuries of racism imposed on our society by force of arms, continue to inform the overwhelming majority of our homesteads that they should welcome, love and respect all visitors and travellers in a spirit friendship and human compassion.

We define ourselves as Africans because we belong within the family of the billion Africans who live in Africa and the Africa Diaspora, who are linked to one another by a common destiny of Afro centricity.

History has clearly shown that many African countries assisted each other during the liberation struggle for example Zanu PF and Frelimo of Mozambique, African National Congress(ANC) of South Africa and Zanu Pf worked together for all these countries to liberate themselves despite  their geographical distances and differences. So it's high time Africa stop xenophobia and pursue the developmental goal of a new era, we must reaffirm that we are committed to the sustained pursuit of the goal of the regeneration of Africa and the African Diaspora, based on the unshakeable understanding that we are to one another, Africans, brothers and sisters.

The world over Africans have a history of being good mannered people. It's a shame that at home we have become unrecognisable. We are known for having Ubuntu, it's high time that we pledge that never again will we allow anybody to bring shame to our continent by betraying the values of Ubuntu and committing crimes against our visitors and travellers, thus besmirching the character of the eminently good human beings who constitute our continent as a people afflicted by the cancerous disease of xenophobia.

In most cases people who come and work in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Mozambique are people who are not there to steal jobs, women or nationality. They are people with different skills which people can use to enhance the development of a nation or a country for its growth. Civilisation encompasses many facets which enhance development that we must appreciate each other not for our personal gains but for our future generations. We are proudly African, not only because of our indelible contribution to human civilisation, but also because we know that the regeneration of Africa will add new humane values to human society, as demonstrated by the many in our society who rallied to provide assistance to and reintegrate the thousands of displaced fellow Africans.

"Africa Unite, Africa Unite for a betterment of our future "said Bob Marley in one of his song. The song was penned when many African countries were winning the liberation struggles but even after the struggles it still encourages unity of purpose and peace thus as brothers and sisters in Africa we must unite and say NO TO XENOPHOBIA