A panel discussion argues that the increased illegal migration in Africa is attributed to poverty and colonialism and ultimately led to disunity among African states.
The dialogue was held at the University of Limpopo (UL) when the institution collaborated with National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the Limpopo Provincial Government to commemorate the 25th of May as Africa Day, declared by the African Union to observe the day to look into the African continent’s pertinent issues of development, culture and politics.
The dialogue was titled “Finding a lasting holistic solution to the challenge of Africa’s human migration and nutrition” in which the Deputy Minister for Sport, Arts and Culture, Hon Nocawe Mafu, said the issue of global migration cannot be isolated to the issues of African development.
“We are experiencing illegal migration in large numbers, especially because there is a lack of development in some parts in the content and that propels people to go out to seek greener pastures,” Mafu said.
She added that African states leaders ought to ensure that development is prioritised so that migration would not be driven by poverty but by self-development.
The Deputy Minister reminded the congregation that “we are more alike than we think. The existing borders should not make us stop from embracing one another. Before you are a Mozambican or a South African, we are one.”
Prof Muxe Nkondo, Chair of the Collins Chabane Foundation and Rixaka Foundation, said at the heart of migration is a very profound “cultural problem”.
He said the apartheid system was to blame because it taught people to hate one another based on the different colour of their skin and religion.
“We were made to think our difference is essentially oppositional and fundamentally antagonistic, and that is a profound negative fallacy.”
He claims that the existing borders that divide African countries are there to cause divisions.
According to him, “This thing called ‘South Africa’ does not exist; it was imposed on us by Europe to demarcate our space and make us so easy to manage. This has also created some emotional legitimacy so that one would feel strongly that they are South African, Zimbabwean, or Mozambican. Deep down, there are more important ancient identities than explored.”
Prof Sekgothe Mokgoatŝana, folklore expert and lecturer at UL, concurred that colonial education misinformed nations to think that people from other countries do not share similar identities such as language and culture.
“These arbitrary divisions contradict what we are made of,” he said, adding that Africans have common narratives that define who they are.
“We have Batswana in the North West (South Africa). The Xhosa people also exist in Zimbabwe as well as South Africa. Our totems are similar. The question of migration must be asked: is it migrating, from where to where?” Prof Mokgoatŝana asserted.
The debate also touched on agriculture, African systems, education, religion, and the economy. According to Head of the Department for Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ramatsimele Maisela, Africa has the most arable land that is uncultivated and, with proper channelling of resources, can feed the population and the rest of the world.
“The 2010 Maputo Declaration agreed that every country contribute 10% of their national GDP be allocated for agricultural production and South Africa is still lacking,” Maisela said.
Admittedly, Maisela said that governments need to mobilise private sector investment to increase resources for agricultural production, as a lack of food would cripple the continent at the rate at which the population is increasing.
By Reuben Maake