XENOPHOBIA - A Royal Experience

Correspondent | Monday May 4, 2015 16:04

The recent outbursts of xenophobia in South Africa come as no surprise given our own royal experience of rejection by the powers that be in government surrounding my South African citizenship and delivery of my ID book and passport. At the present moment - as South Africa celebrates Freedom day on April 27, 2015 the King of Bakgatla ba Kgafela tribe in South Africa (Kgafela ii) and his family are without ID’s and passports, not because of any valid reasons, but simply because some officer(s) at the infamous Home Affairs office, have consistently refused to deliver the documentation without stating reasons over a period of three years.

I became a South African citizen in November 2012, but to date we still struggle with the Home Affairs office to release our documents. Without an ID, a foreigner struggles to manoeuvre around because an ID is required almost everywhere to do business in public and private affairs. We experience this rejection because we are perceived as foreigners who have come into South Africa to upset the status quo of corruption prevailing in the Bakgatla tribal office of Moruleng, where billions of rands continue to be siphoned unabated in a fraudulent enterprise that encompasses big names. Yet, it was my great grandfather, Kgosi Linchwe I who co- founded the African National Congress (ANC) and my father Kgosi Linchwe ii who cared for the comrades during the war against apartheid. My royal uncle, Ramono Linchwe, was born and raised in South Africa. He worked with my father to help the comrades, but he too has suffered the same rejection, where the Home Affairs office refuses to release his ID book and passport without stating reasons.

My mother was born and raised in South Africa in the Motsepe clan. She retains her old South African ID number, yet her ID book has similarly been withheld to this day without reason. The Home Affairs office has remained mum as to why they are withholding our ID documents. We are ridiculed as “batho ba Botswana”(people from Botswana) when we claim our legitimate birth right as citizens from outside.

In the course of 2012-2013 we have specifically requested (in writing) protection of the South African government against looming danger to our lives on account of the high profile nature of our challenges. Our request has fallen onto deaf ears. Meanwhile there have been collaborative attempts to abduct Kgafela ii for illegal deportation to Botswana to face death or long- term imprisonment at the hands of a corrupt regime.

When we complained about these things (illegal deportations) in May 2013, we were mocked by many in Botswana and South Africa, but vindication has swiftly descended in the recent scandal of renditions concerning Zimbabweans and senior South African police officers, which has now blown out to embarrass the entire nation internationally.

There have even been attempts to cancel my citizenship illegally, which went as far as information being deleted from state computers only to be restored once our private investigators probed. These are but a few of the insidious xenophobic experiences foreigners face beneath the actual violence recently seen.

The reader must ask herself: If a “foreigner” King is treated this way, what more of the ordinary foreigner from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia, Ethiopia etc.? The xenophobia problems in South Africa are caused mainly by corruption, practiced by a wicked minority who have hijacked, divided and paralysed: (a) government structures, (b) ANC structures, (c) our traditional structures and tribal office in Moruleng and (d) other traditional institutions, in a manner that has tarnished the whole nation of South Africa, which is otherwise a beautiful country with much hope for Africa (From the Horse’s Mouth p316).

When corruption victimises a duly crowned King with gross injustice and makes leaders forget the people who helped them in difficult times, God always steps in with divine justice to demonstrate his displeasure. We have stated this truth in previous blog posts that this year 2015 shall be the year of divine justice, and so it shall be. As such, one can be sure that the woes of South Africa shall unfortunately escalate until full atonement has been achieved for: (a) the injustices perpetrated against Bakgatla ba Kgafela tribe and (b) for the socio-economic injustices inflicted upon the poor majority of South Africans, who struggle for food, water, electricity and basic needs of life on a daily basis amidst plenty.

The woes arise as a rebound of circumstances brought about by and through the karmic law what goes around always comes around with mathematical certainty, and no amount of political rhetoric can change the path of fate undertaken so far. Proverbs 22 verses 22-23 declares: ‘Rob not the poor because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted at the gate: For the lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them’ (KJV).

God loves the South Africa and wants it to shine rather than becoming what it appears today. In order to alter the current path of fate, South Africa must confront the evil of corruption head–on and collectively work towards uprooting it with forthrightness never seen before. Once we do that, there shall be no room for xenophobia or other related excuses for venting frustration unto others. We will have peace for all.