Mr Mbeki, (I have given up calling you President, sir) the “xenophobia” and resulting violence which is gaining rampant coverage in the press these days is your fault. Yours alone.
The South African people have been as accomodating as they can towards foreign nationals, but there comes a time when enough is enough. Zimbabweans have been streaming across the border with little resistance from us and our police for many years. We accepted them with open arms because they were placed in exile by tyranny and economic need, and because they are hard workers and were simply looking for opportunities to better their lives. Unfortunately there aren’t that many opportunities here either, so inevitably some South Africans started losing out to Zimbabweans. (or other nationalities, but I choose to presume the majority of these foreigners are Zimbabwean). Can you blame your people for being angry at losing what little birthright they have to another person from another land? Of course I do not support the manner in which this discontent has been expressed.
But, Mr Mbeki, you have had every damn opportunity to fix Zimbabwe and you just mucked around. You let a tyrant destroy one of the strongest and richest and most beautiful countries in Africa on your watch, and you did it with a cheap grin on your face. This mess is your fault Thabo. Instead of being decisive and forcing Mugabe out of power, you rambled on with your quiet diplomacy BS. And now it is happening again – we can sense that Mugabe is going to steal control of his country Zimbabwe again, which will only worsen things.
Yes of course I’m angry. Your people are angry. The immigrants Your guests are angry. Grow some damn balls and fix this mess. Please.