Life has a curious tendency of throwing in distractions at times when there are great opportunities. These seem like inevitable tests that expose whether we focus on distractions or opportunities.
Right now, as we celebrate Africa Day, the choice is stark. The question of historic relevance is whether Africa chooses to be distracted or to grab rare opportunities.
Sure enough, distractions are loaded with emotions, while opportunities are loaded with cold common sense and maturity.
What am I talking about, you may ask?
There has been a dangerous movement in the past few years which is a result of the glaring failures of our government.
That movement is a desperate response to our poorly performing economy, which can neither adequately train South African talent nor create enough work to reduce unemployment.
It is a knee-jerk reaction to the corruption at home affairs, our porous borders and the pandemic of drug addiction which has overwhelmed our country.
It is also a distraction produced mostly by our own elected ANC government.
This movement loosely pulls together prominent populists and populist groups.
Politicians such as Gayton McKenzie, Herman Mashaba, the Dudula movement, and Ngizwe Mchunu, who has emerged as the latest ambassador, are some of them.
Those who are fanning these flames should know that once this movement spins out of control, no foreign national will be safe
The ruse is that they are acting against illegal foreign nationals.
This is a ruse because, soon enough, it won’t matter whether one is legally or illegally in the country.
No-one may be able to control the emotions and the desperation which are being stirred up right now.
Those who are fanning these flames should know that once this movement spins out of control, no foreign national will be safe.
No South African will be safe either, because as fate would have it, we look just like the foreign nationals that are being chased away.
In the heat of the moment, it is inevitable that both legal foreigners and South Africans will be the victims.
Sadly, we have seen this before in previous xenophobic attacks.
We saw how quickly a co-ordinated campaign can run out of control during the 2021 riots.
We got a glimpse of what could go wrong during the march in KuGompo City this year.
Unfortunately, our incapacitated government finds it hard to prevent even the activities that pose such a high risk.
This situation has caused unnecessary tension between SA and many of our African counterparts.
This is at a time when we should be forging ahead with stronger economic ties and making real commitments to turn Africa into a continent of thriving trade and development.
The ambassadors and high commissioners of African nations recently boycotted the Africa Day celebrations held in SA.
This is a serious dent to the country’s standing in the continent.
It is an unwarranted waste of the international goodwill SA won when it stood against the US as a de facto representative of the global South.
The insensitivity displayed by our GNU, or more directly, the president, by having Gayton McKenzie address that gathering is unbelievable. It displays a poor grasp of what is at stake.
The inability to see that closer ties with Africa is part of the new imperative, if we are to come out of the current geopolitical spasms intact.
While we are distracted, bickering about whether we are xenophobic, a huge economic opportunity just opened. China recently announced zero tariffs for 53 African countries
The risk is that we might waste another perfect opportunity to spearhead the unity of the continent, not in some sentimental struggle rhetoric but in real economy building commitments.
While we are distracted, bickering about whether we are xenophobic, a huge economic opportunity just opened.
China recently announced zero tariffs for 53 African countries.
Juxtapose this move against the tariffs which were recently increased by the US against many African countries, including SA.
If there was a moment that called for African unity, it is this one.
This is a moment that requires African unity in response to opportunity rather than to the usual adversity.
Are we ready for it, or would we rather bicker and bay for each other’s blood?
“If African businesses are to scale exports into markets like China, they need regional supply chains that are efficient, predictable and competitive.
“That requires investment not only in ports and airports but also in border processes, customs systems and transport corridors that link markets together.”
DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa chief executive Hennie Heyman could not have put it better.
Africa needs to move beyond distractions and focus on efficient intra-Africa trade as well as international trade with economically smart countries such as China.
Proper border controls are an automatic part of that package.
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