Xenophobia: Remembering Zwangendaba

The treatment of Africans in South Africa shames me as an African and pains me as a Tanzanian. Many of us know the best of South Africa, and South Africans, than this. And I can attest that this does not represent the true spirit and consciousness of this great nation. I join the leadership of the country in condemning these acts — and commend it for taking actions to stop them. I am writing this opinion in my personal capacity as a pan-African who grew up captivated by the romance of the liberation struggle, and as a brother to many good South Africans who I know are equally pained by what they see.

The first time I became aware of the fact that it is possible and quite normal for some people to emigrate, out of necessity, from one country to another was in 1984, when I was 10 years old. This is when Dumisani Dube, a South African immigrant, and member of the African National Congress (ANC), living in Tanzania, recklessly interfered with the motorcade of Edward Sokoine, Tanzania’s Prime Minister and heir-apparent to out first President and the Father of the Nation Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, causing the accident that ended the life of this beloved Tanzanian leader.

A very sad voice of Nyerere broadcasted on radio the news of Sokoine’s death late afternoon of April 12th 1984. The whole nation was in shock. And soon, Dumisani Dube became a household name in Tanzania.

A small but persistent section of the population started entertaining second-thoughts about the wisdom of allowing what some judged as…