New Form of Apartheid Reveals Its Ugly Face in South Africa

D I T O R I A L
HIIRAAN ONLINE
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The word Apartheid denotes the worst form of racism, injustice and brutality that mankind has ever known. With the triumphant African National Congress (ANC) in 1990, the world hoped to witness the end of apartheid. Unfortunately, some of the liberated blacks of

South Africa

are themselves today knowingly perpetuating a new form of apartheid against vulnerable African refugees in their country. Somalis are some of the latest victims of this brutal racism in

South Africa

for they are singled out and stoned to death, hacked with machetes, burned alive and driven from their homes and businesses. Their only crime is that they are simply non-native foreigners with natural entrepreneurial skills..

Black South Africans know a lot about the injustices associated with restricting peoples’ rights to work, decent living and freedom to travel, for that is what the apartheid system was all about. One would think that they would be the first to be repulsed by the killing of innocent human beings and particularly African brethren for merely opening up businesses in their neighborhoods-- for black South Africans have seen this, first hand, under the apartheid rule. Somali refugees engaged in a small-scale subsistence trade in South African towns and villages should not have been subjected to black perpetuated apartheid because Somalia and Somalis and other Africans from the continent ,it must be said, played a critical role in the liberation of South Africa. South Africa is undeniably indebted to Somalia and Somalis. Instead of a valuable return on that longstanding investment, black South Africans and what appears to be an indifferent regime in South Africa are repaying Somalis by killing them and destroying their hard earned businesses.

Some privately say that ignorant and unthankful thugs unleashed by jealous native shopkeepers are behind the ongoing xenophobia in South Africa. While others publicly concede, however, that a culture of xenophobia is tolerated by all and is widespread throughout the nation. How else they say could they sit silent in the face of these heinous target killings committed in a broad daylight?

The leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) who have seen first hand the generosity, solidarity and selfless contribution of Somalia during its liberation era should have been stood up for the fundamental rights of their Somali brethren or at least advocate for the protection the defenseless refugees in their midst.

The ANC leadership knows that Somalia stood up for them in the bleakest hours of South Africa’s history. One of the most important and turning point events in the struggle against apartheid took place between June 12-16, 1974 during the Heads of State and Government Summit of Organization of African Unity (OAU) held in Mogadishu, Somalia. The Somali government invited ANC leaders including Mr. Thabo Mbeki, a young revolutionary then, to that august Mogadishu gathering. It was in that Summit that African States accepted that it was pointless to beg the Apartheid regime in Pretoria and that backing the armed liberation efforts by ANC and others was the only option for the assembled African leaders. With the stewardship of the Somali government, OAU produced the Mogadishu Declaration and President Mbeki recounts with reminiscences how the Somali government set the stage for a genuine continent-wide struggle against apartheid.

As part of a cultural programme put together for the benefit of the delegates, a Somali drama group performed a play that sought to denounce the neo-colonialism….The play had scenes of delegates visiting Western embassies on their way to OAU meetings. Here they would be given briefcases full of cash. They would then be given instructions on the resolutions they should propose at these OAU meetings and how they should vote. The sketches included instructions on the need for these delegates to do everything possible to frustrate the struggles against colonialism and apartheid.

Not only did the Somali government shore up a unified OAU liberation efforts in that Summit, but it also welcomed the military wing of the ANC offering everything in its disposal to assist their legitimate struggle for self-determination and dignity. Again President Mbeki attesting the role Somalia played the end of Apartheid writes,

For many years afterwards Mogadishu and Somalia remained in our memories as African places of hope for us, a reliable rear base for the total liberation of Africa, including our liberation from apartheid. Indeed, in ater years, others of our comrades returned to Mogadishu, this time to work with the Somali government to prepare for the clandestine infiltration into South Africa of cadres of Umkhonto we Sizwe [the military wing of ANC], who would travel to apartheid South Africa by sea, secretly departing from the Somali ports”

The selfless support of Somalia and Somalis to the liberation efforts of South Africa is too numerous to count. We will be remiss, however, if we do not mention the crusading work of Ambassador Abdulrahim Abby Farah the then Somali Ambassador to the UN. As the 1969-73 Chairman of the all-important United Nations Special Committee on the Policies of Apartheid, the Somali ambassador persistently took up the South African issues as Ambassador Farah’s anticipatory letter of March 1973 to Zinzi Mandela (whose mother Winnie Mandela was imprisoned) vividly reveals. Zinzi was at the time 12 years old,

The Special Committee on Apartheid, of which I am Chairman, has recently learned that you have appealed to us to urge the South African Government to take stops to ensure your mother's safety. We have not yet received your letter, but we would like you to know that the Committee is indeed very much concerned about your mother's safety…We want to assure you that we will do everything possible to ensure your mother's safety. We are asking the United Nations Secretary-General to use his good offices to seek assurances from the South African authorities. We are also writing to the International Committee of the Red Cross. We will also continue to do everything possible to secure the release of your father from prison and the ending of the cruel restrictions on your mother. The cause for which your father and mother have struggled is also our cause - the cause of freedom and human dignity.

Our hearts ache when we see the pictures of murdered young and aspiring Somali refugees in South Africa for we know the immense sacrifice Somalia and Somalis made to help South Africans regain their dignity. It is high time for conscious South Africans and particularly the leadership of ANC to stand up visibly for the fundamental human rights of the beleaguered Somali refugees. We also appeal to the international community to consider offering asylum to the tormented Somali refugees out of South Africa – refugees who are hunted and murdered daily simply because of their entrepreneurial skills to making a decent living.

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