For context, South Africa is neither exemplary nor a leader among hosts to “illegal” or “forced” immigrants, commonly known as refugees, in Africa. Leaders, non of which is Afrophobic, are Uganda, Liberia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia & Cameroon!
The mixed response of SA govt officials to the gruesome lynching of Elvis Nyathi is outrageous, unacceptable but telling: tragically, maybe due to their shellacking in the recent local govt elections, the subliminal message of @MYANC ministers is Afrophobic & anti-Zimbabwean!
For a perspective, “illegal” and “forced” immigration which are rooted in Sadc’s dual colonial & apartheid political economy are important to, but are not a sine qua non of, unpacking post-independence failures of govts led by ex liberation movements!
The gruesome lynching of Elvis Nyathi a Zimbabwean stoned & burnt alive in South Africa is not a result of “illegal” or “forced” immigration, as claimed by political vultures in SA and Zim; it’s Afrophobia, a dreadful South African hate crime not seen anywhere else in Africa!
Political claims that Elvis Nyathi’s gruesome murder highlights “forced immigration” as a sign of policy failure in Zim; sanitize the brutal fact that Nyathi tragically fell to Afrophobia, a hate crime; and even negate freedom of movement & regional integration as Sadc goals!
