Features
The recurring xenophobia in South Africa
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I am an unapologetic Pan-Africanist. I love my roots, first as Ewe, Ghanaian and then African. Even if I had the chance I would not take on another nationality. I am no racist either, and I hate to see one group of people look down on another. Though, the news of imminent xenophobic attacks must be worrying.
I have followed the history of South Africa for as long as I can remember. The first I heard of that country was one Chaka Zulu. It turned out he was a King of the Zulu kingdom, King Chaka. He was said to be a fierce and ruthless warrior king and tyrant who loved to see his own people killed at a whim, according to the narrative at the time.
I again read of the arrival of the Boers in that country in 1652 and later, the domination of the natives by the settlers. As time went on, a system of government was introduced that made the blacks/natives subservient to the settlers/Boers/whites; a system christened Apartheid. It took a lot of agitation by the rest of the world, especially the rest of Africa, and economic strangulation for the whites to relinquish their political hold on the country.
Under Apartheid, the only source of release for the blacks was through music, aside of their compatriots who took the fight to the Boers. It was then easy to describe South African music as music of suffering people. Their music was distinct and it brought emotions to us who knew of their suffering. We simply called it Zulu music.
The vocals, instruments and the rhythms carried a certain bone-chilling resonance that caught one’s attention. It still has same effect on those of us old enough to know what South Africa was going through.
We heard of freedom fighters like Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Albert Luthuli and many more. Archbishop Desmond Tutu fought the system from within. Some were in prison and others fled the country and fought the cause from exile. By his oratory, courage and principle, Mandela became the face of the struggle against the Apartheid regime. His persona loomed large even from the notorious Roben Island prison.
The Sharpville Massacre, followed later by the murder of Steve Biko on September 12, 1977, gave impetus and momentum to the struggle. All of Africa took the fight to the world, asking for the isolation of South Africa from all world events, including sports and trade. Many countries, including Ghana, hosted their exiles, educated some of them and trained quite a number in the art of the military.
However, the blacks were not denied formal education; their textbooks tailored in servitude to the whites and their businesses. The men broke their backs in the mines and the women were mostly domestic servants to the whites. The rest of us felt their pain.
Trumpeter Hugh Masekela came to Ghana after his divorce from his then wife, Miriam Makeba, who later married African-Amerrican civil rights activist, Stokely Carmichael with whom she settled in Conakry, Guinea. Masekela and Makeba projected their cause to the world with their music.
When I saw Mandela on our High Street in Accra in 1992, I could see in his aura a man destined to champion a purpose. The Madiba did not mean for his people to become xenophobic in their national life. Sadly, that is what has lately become an annual affair in south Africa.
A friend told me only recently that we should have allowed the whites to continue their domination of the blacks if we knew this is how we shall be repaid for our support for the black cause.
Now, whites, coloured and Indians are accepted even if they are visitors or legally resident in that country. Africans of other nationalities, irrespective of their immigrant status, are regarded as foreigners and must be attacked, their businesses destroyed or are hounded out of the country.
It makes sense for us to feel betrayed and angered by the xenophobic attacks on other Africans in South Africa. But wait a minute: do those folks know the role played by the rest of Africa in their struggle against Apartheid? If they knew, I believe the narrative will be different.
Did the likes of Mandela, Govan Mbeki and others tell their people about those other countries that supported their struggle? None that I heard of. Even in his autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom Mandela only mentioned his military training in Libya in passing. Because the whites controlled the media in that country at the time, the blacks had no idea who were fighting for them from outside.
As far as they were concerned, it was their struggle. Not even the role of neighbours Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe was known to them. So, citizens of these neighbours who are in South Africa are seen as parasites feeding on their country’s wealth and depriving them of job opportunities.
West Africans, especially Nigerians and Ghanaians, have distinct features from the Southern Africans, so they are easier targets.
Until their textbooks are rewritten to reflect the true history of the global fight for their freedom, many South Africans, in their ignorance, will blame “foreigners” for all their conditions. Their government must make it a clear policy to tell the story truthfully for the education and understanding of their people. This needs a conscious effort to accomplish.
But if their leaders are as ignorant as the people they lead, the likelihood of South Africa facing isolation once again is on the horizon. After all, migrant labour is known to have helped in developing economies worldwide.
I suggest to governments whose citizens are mostly affected by these xenophobic attacks make a representation to the South African government to tell its citizens what role their countries played in that country’s anti Apartheid struggle. The rest of Africa needs South Africa as it also needs the rest of us.
Personally, I have no appetite for visiting South Africa under a cloud of unannounced burst of anger and revulsion towards foreigners. If our countries had refused to shelter their exiled freedom fighters, where would that country be at this point in their history?
Instead of getting angry at this behaviour of these people, I pity them rather. I pity them because if they continue on this trajectory, by the time the realisation of reality dawns on them, there will not be even one friend standing by their side.
I do not yet know if the African Union (AU) has said anything about this phenomenon in South Africa, a country that wants to be known as Azania. Asking the leaders of South Africa to rein in this emerging rowdyism cannot be tantamount to interference in that country’s internal affairs.
What does it profit these people to attack foreigners, loot their property and live off the spoils of the attack and when all is finished, regroup and launch fresh attacks? Then the cycle continues. Meanwhile, South African businesses are opening up all over the African continent without hindrance, so what is their beef with foreigners?
South Africa risks isolation if their leaders look on while this becomes a national character. If that is what they want, the choice is entirely theirs.
By Dr. Akofa K. Segbefia
Writer’s email address: akofa45@yahoo.com
The average modern Gold Coaster born and bred in Sikaman is an adventurous creature. Go to any part of the world and you’ll find Ghanaman diligently slugging it out either in the snow or in hot sweltering weather, earning a decent living.
Go to Guinea and see Ghanaman in the garb of a herbalist, curing the sick of various ailments. He makes the Guinean understand that not all diseases are caused by James Lucifer alias Jimmy Satan. On the contrary, most diseases are caused by kooko which can even attack the human nose and turn it upside down.
That kooko is also the cause of poverty and the internal bleeding of personal back-pocket economies. And that kooko can be cured using the chemistry underlying Sikaman herbal medicine which has been blessed by the gods of Larteh.
And before Ghanaman starts dispensing his herbal concoctions, he must attract the passing crowd with some Sıkaman-originated choreography, akin to a combination of adowa and agbadza, such that the dancer can easily dislocate a shoulder and start crying for his mother.
When the crowd is enough to form a quorum, Ghanaman must perform magic as a side-attraction, and proceed to sell his drugs. The drugs are genuinely made from potent herbs which the Pharmacy Board of Sikaman says it has no confidence in. Believe me, Ghanaian herbalists are practising in neighbouring countries like Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Benin, while we are discouraging them from practising in Sikaman.
Go to Las Palmas and see Ghanaman as a fisherman. He sails on Korean-owned boats and is forced to eat garlic and raw tuna for radiant health. The garlic is also supposed to protect him against witches. But sometimes, he is not good bedfellows with some Korean crew members, and once in a while a fight breaks out.
The typical Korean is a Kung Fu expert and before displaying a golden dragon data. He must first terrify Ghanaman with a Korean dance which consists of wild arms and leg throwing. But Ghanaman is usually not daunted. Why has he been eating cancer kenkey all years without developing cancer? It mean is a superhuman capable of countering Kun fu side-kicks to the ribs.
Anyhow Ghanaman’s most potent arsenal lies in his fists. If he is a southpaw, it mean left fist is probably insured and can cause damage. When Ghanaman lands a cassava blow and it lands on a Korean chest, it has the effect of a cruise missile. If there is no ceasefire a funeral cannot be ruled out.
Greenland
Go to Alaska and find Ghanaman there. Greenland, Iceland, Brazil, Argentina, Madagascar, everywhere and you’ll find him. He has become an international citizen and is generally lauded for his hardwork, sincerity and honesty.
However, some bad nuts are also condemned and despised.
The world and all its parts and corners are for the human race, and anyone can choose to live anywhere and earn a decent living so long as he doesn’t misconduct himself or become a social misfit and a law unto himself.
Sıkaman for instance accepts foreigners, and we are so liberal that people just come in through our borders and we welcome them with the best palmwine in town and goat light soup. Who cares about passports and visas? Our hospitality is, as it were legendary.
So we have Liberians, Nigerians, Sierra Leoneans, Togolese, Europeans, Americans, Scandinavians and Koreans in Sikaman. And some of them have misinterpreted our overzealous accommodation to mean “foolishness” and are misconducting themselves.
The newspapers carry stories of some unscrupulous Nigerians stealing, defrauding and collaborating with their Sikaman counterparts to rob people. You’ll find some good and law-abiding Liberians around but some other Liberians are in the business of fraud, robbery, money printing, money doubling, anything criminal.
Ghanaian hospitality can no longer be extended to such people. I do not think Ghanaians will be treated kindly either, when they misbehave anywhere in the world. Those who come from outside with the intention of bringing down their evil deeds and to practise them here professionally must be getting ready because Ghanaians are getting fed up with the menace.
These days, you’ll find strange people following you as soon as you emerge from a bank. If you are not careful, they’ll wrestle your briefcase from you and speed away in a waiting taxi.
Someone was just saying that many foreign criminals are flocking to Ghana because in their countries, they are enable to operate either because they are being looked for by the police for offences committed or fear instant justice at the hands of mobs. Ghanaians, it is said, are humanitarian in dealing with criminals.
Well, in some African countries, a thief who is being chased runs directly to the police station in his own interest and begs the officer at the counter to lock him up. Otherwise he’ll be lynched or be burnt to death. In Ghana, it is the opposite. The thieves run far away from the cop stations.
The criminals must reform and stay peacefully in Sikaman or quit. No court case!
This article was first published on Saturday September 5, 1998
The human condition is defined by two absolute, biological bookends: the commencement of complex cellular animation and its ultimate, irreversible cessation.
For centuries, medicine treated life and death as strictly separate states. Today, modern pathology and molecular biology reveal a more profound truth: the mechanisms that allow us to live are the exact same mechanisms that dictate how we die.
Understanding this relationship is no longer just a philosophical pursuit. It is a clinical necessity for managing public health in the 21st century.
Part I: How we live – The mechanics of animation
At its core, biological life is a continuous, high-stakes battle against entropy (the natural tendency of systems to degrade into disorder). To maintain form, consciousness, and function, the human body relies on three fundamental pillars:
1. Cellular respiration and energy production
Every second of human life is powered by the conversion of oxygen and glucose into Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), the universal energy currency of our cells. This process occurs within the mitochondria.
Without a constant supply of ATP, the microscopic pumps that maintain electrical gradients across our cell membranes fail, causing cellular collapse within minutes.
2. Homeostasis: The balancing act
To survive, the internal environment of the body must remain incredibly stable, regardless of external chaos. This balancing act, known as homeostasis, regulates:
Blood pH: Strictly maintained between 7.35 and 7.45.
Core Temperature: Ideally kept around 37°C (98.6°F).
Electrolyte Balance: Precise ratios of sodium, potassium, and calcium that allow nerves to fire and muscles to contract.
3. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
The ANS acts as the invisible conductor of life, split into two complementary branches:
Part II: How we die – The path of cessation
Death is rarely a singular event; it is a progressive biological cascade. Whether caused by old age, chronic illness, or sudden trauma, the final pathways of mortality generally follow a predictable trajectory.
1. The cellular horizon: Senescence and Apoptosis
Every time a human cell divides, the protective caps at the ends of its chromosomes-telomeres-shorten. Eventually, telomeres become so depleted that the cell can no longer divide safely. It enters senescence (a state of permanent arrest) or triggers apoptosis (programmed cell death). This gradual, systemic loss of cellular renewal is the underlying engine of aging.
2. The clinical cascade of somatic death
When the body can no longer maintain homeostasis, somatic death (the death of the organism as a whole) begins. This occurs in a distinct sequence:
1
Clinical Death
Zero to four minutes
The heart stops pumping blood, and respiration ceases. While breathing and circulation have ended, the body’s tissues still contain residual oxygen and cellular energy reserves. At this stage, resuscitation is often still possible.
2
Brain Death (Infarction)
Four to six minutes
Deprived of fresh oxygenated blood, the brain’s highly sensitive neurons begin to starve. Lacking ATP, the brain cells lose their electrical charge, swell, and begin to burst. Permanent, irreversible neurological damage occurs within minutes.
3
Biological Death
Hours to days
The organs fail entirely. Without central control or blood flow, individual cells throughout the body consume their final energy reserves. Enzymes that once aided digestion begin to break down the body’s own tissues from the inside out, a process known as autolysis.
Part III: The modern collision of life and death
In the modern era, the boundary between how we live and how we die has blurred. Historically, humanity died primarily from infectious diseases and acute trauma. Today, global mortality is dominated by non-communicable, chronic lifestyle diseases.
Modern Pathology: How we live (the cause) how we die (the result)
Cardiovascular disease, chronic stress, poor diet, and lack of sleep keep the sympathetic nervous system hyper-activated, damaging blood vessels .Occlusion of coronary arteries leads to myocardial infarction (heart attack) or ischemic stroke.
Metabolic syndrome over nutrition and physical inactivity overwhelm cellular mitochondria, leading to systemic insulin resistance. Multi-organ failure, chronic kidney disease, and severe vascular complications.
Neurodegenerative Disorders Chronic systemic inflammation and sleep deprivation prevent the brain from clearing metabolic waste. Gradual loss of synaptic connections, leading to dementia and the eventual loss of basic autonomic functions.
Conclusion: The unified theory of health
Ultimately, how we live directly shapes the path of how we die. The micro-choices of daily existence-how we manage emotional stress, the quality of our rest, our communal connections, and our nutrition-either preserve the integrity of our homeostatic systems or accelerate their decline.
True medical advancement is shifting away from merely extending the final, frail stages of biological death. Instead, the focus is turning toward optimising our living years-ensuring that the intricate, beautiful machinery of human animation runs smoothly until its natural, quiet conclusion.
By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson
