by Hannes Wessels
Humanitarian crises are unfolding at both the top and the bottom end of Africa. ‘Down South’ anti-foreigner violence threatens to tear the country apart as the flow of illegal migrants from the wrecked economies of neighbouring countries stream seamlessly through porous, poorly controlled borders. This, at a time when the South African economy is faltering for many of the same reasons that economies collapsed in the rest of Africa; corruption, incompetence and boundless avarice on the part of those who wield power.
The other pressure valve has burst in the north. In central Africa near anarchy has arrived in some regions where territorial boundaries have become meaningless, central governments have been reduced to powerless nonentities and warlords roam, rape and pillage with impunity. Under the present circumstances there is absolutely no chance of any meaningful economic or political stability returning to these regions.
Further north the rise of fanatical, militant Islamists has brought a reign of ghastly terror to vast swathes of North Africa and Asia Minor. The challenge of bringing some sort of orderly governance back to Libya, Iraq and Syria is an immense one and ‘Western Folly’ is at least partly to blame for this disaster. It now has to be asked if the elimination of Saddam in Iraq, Gaddaffi in Libya and the removal from power in Egypt of Hosni Mubarak has made any of those countries better places. America and Europe had a hand in all of this and may now rue those decisions.
But the uncomfortable irony of all this misery is that it has all become, in the memorable words of Kipling; ‘The White Man’s Burden’ because all these poor people see their only salvation under the wing of the white man. Something is not right here because we all now know that the white man is the villain of the 21st Century. He is synonymous with slavery, racism, colonialism, capitalist exploitation and in the case of Germany; that most egregious form of ethnic persecution that we all know as ‘The ‘Holocaust’.
So while we hang our heads in shame in recognition of our disgusting history and our despicable proclivities we must revitalise ourselves to take stock of the fact that we ‘monsters’ of the modern world also provide the most agreeable living space on the planet. At this moment the Germans who are overly endowed with these reprehensible ‘racist’ genes are dealing with unprecedented migrant inflows, many of whom are Muslim. Why on earth would a Muslim seek shelter in a country-culture steeped in Christianity that has a notorious history of ethno-phobia? If the facts are correct this is akin to a chicken taking refuge in a fox-hole.
The southern migrant explosion may need some explaining in the context of South Africa because the country is an independent black-ruled country, blessed, we are constantly reminded with the legacy of Nelson Mandela whereby the extent of European rule has been radically reduced. This is all roughly correct but the reason that there remains some semblance of economic richness and some hope of a better life for millions of migrants is because there remains in this country the last significant community of European descent in Africa. It is this minority that manages and powers the private sector which makes this the last large functional economy on the continent and this is why most of Africa is beating down the doors. Simply put, the private sector provides jobs when there is little work to speak of in the rest of Africa.
In the Western Cape Province the problem is accentuated because it also boasts the last semblance of European political leadership in Africa in the form of Mrs Helen Zille’s Democratic Alliance. This has made the province by far the best governed in the country and with good governance have come people fleeing bad governance. So the province is in danger of being a victim of its own success as people pour in looking for a better future thus placing huge strain on systems and infrastructure.
In a saner world it would seem obvious that the sensible thing for the country’s electorate then to do then is to use their votes to extend ‘good governance’ into the rest of the country. But sadly this will almost certainly not happen. One reason why is sanity does not prevail; the fans that fire racially motivated sentiments blow hard in South Africa and the Europeans and their leaders are, as in the rest of the world, blamed routinely and robustly for most of the country’s ills. Recently for example, President Zuma blamed the Dutchman Jan van Riebeeck who arrived on the southern tip of South Africa in 1652 to set up a maritime supply station for the country’s current problems. In the Eastern Cape a ruling party councillor blamed the empty dams on the whites for making them too big when they built them. Against this mind-set, deeply ingrained in the black majority, white South Africans are struggling to see the light. Eventually they will succumb and most will depart as has happened throughout Africa. What they leave behind will be taken and trashed and then it will be time for that majority to look for pastures new but Antartica is a tough place to reach and pickings, apart from penguins and pilchards, are tough to come by.
Is there a solution for Europe? The answer is yes but it’s one the media-whipped, guilt-ridden leadership running Western Europe don’t want to hear. That is to stop grovelling, cross the ‘Med’ into Africa, put up a few German, French or British flags and say this is yours; toss in a bit of capitalism, some good governance and maintain law and order. Then all those trying to flee north will change direction, find the sanctuary they so desperately seek on ‘home soil’ and the human deluge visited upon Europe will end. This solution is called ‘colonialism’.
