To Nigeria: the gold standard of spectacular failure. A country so broken it exports beggars, scammers, and thieves instead of talent then has the audacity to be arrogant about it.
Africa's most populous country, sitting on significant wealth, yet a single international airport that can't keep the lights on. Citizens who can't access basic government services without bribing their way through. And cash dirty, torn, ancient notes worth nothing in international currency, an embarrassment still somehow in circulation. In short: a failed state and a failed people who have fully accepted it.
A president who can't stay awake OR stay in his own country for more than a few months without flying abroad for medical treatment because the healthcare system he presides over is too broken to treat him.
Regions run by religious zealots because Nigerians keep voting for uselessness, proving they've quietly accepted what the rest of the world already knows: it's a failed state and and its people , have accepted collective failure unable to even vote themselves out of failed leaderships. Decades of such catastrophic leadership so embarrassing it turned an entire nation into the world's most notorious hustle and somehow, they still have the nerve to resent anyone who calls it out.
Fix your country before you fix your attitude.
SHAME OF AFRICA, PLEASE. ๐ณ๐ฌ๐
What we are saying is that March March, and their fellow leaders are xenophobic; their actions are xenophobic. Most of their demands are valid, but this is where they lose the plot. According to some of their demands, children born to non-SA men are foreigners. Naturalized South Africans are foreigners. People who are validly in SA are portrayed as breaking the law or whatever else they claim. These are some of their xenophobic positions.
Their valid concerns, which most people agree with, include unregulated migration, corruption in the granting of visas, and the healthcare crisis in SA, including the strain on the system and the ways in which it is being taken advantage of.
However, here are some of their actions and words that are also xenophobic: ethnic differentiation, the use of inflammatory language that has historically been used to mobilize ethnic violence, and calling everyone with an accent they do not understand โzai zai.โ
Just two weeks ago South Africa donated 2.5 million dollars to DRC for their fight against Ebola. Only African country to have done that so far actually.
But here we are branded as the prime enemies of Pan Africanism whilst the kings of Pan Africanism haven't even donated a Single cent or sent any form of help. We have our problems yes and challenges of xenophobia but Africa collectively must not act they themselves are models of solidarity in tough times.
Let's not reduce her contribution, representation matters. Her props are an attraction and have played a role in creating visibility. She also is an older black woman, you don't find many navigating that environment. She doesn't have to know it well, enjoying it is enough.