Xenophobia: Economic benefit is not a one way street

If the South African government are not serious about tackling xenophobia then they should not be serious about trading with the rest of Africa.

All the goods being shipped to the Congo mining industries, to the Zambia copper belt. All the South African retail giants pushing northwards, Pick n'Pay, Shoprite, Makro.

All the minerals being shipped from the DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Just drive on the N1 freeway and watch how many convoys of trucks carrying copper you see. Everyday at Beitbridge there is a kilometre long queue of trucks ferrying South African goods to markets up north.

They should stop telling us the bullshit that we are just sucking their economy and busy contributing nothing. The other way is more true. They are busy sucking our resources to build their economy.

The Congolese and Zambians are following their copper here. If you don't want them here then stop going to get their copper. We Zimbabweans are following our platinum here. South African companies are refusing to build refineries up in Zimbabwe despite the well known demands of our president.

Billions of rands worth of goods are shipped to Zimbabwe every day. If you don't want the factories making those goods to employ Zimbabweans then stop the export of the goods.

Before they start chasing foreigners out of townships, South Africans should go to Beit Bridge, Martins Drift, Komatipoort and other borders to block the importation of raw materials and the export of South African goods.

Let South African ministers, kings, sons of presidents and others knock one fact into their heads. There is a reason why the ruling establishment gave them token freedom in 1994. They wanted sanctions removed so that the country could benefit from trade. South Africa is reaping those benefits now. If they want to throw them away for the sake of xenophobia, fine they can go ahead. But they should not say we did not warn them.

If South Africa want to be part of a regional integrated economy then they should know that economic interaction involves goods and people. It is not just a one way street.

The South African government needs to be serious about managing that integration. They should stop being lackadaisical about xenophobia