OPINION | There is a serious disease among Africans: Tribalism

There is a serious disease among Africans that we need to urgently confront: Tribalism.

Tribalism is a growing concern in SA and some rotten individuals within the Zulu group are proud perpetrators. While some are advancing tribal politics in a subtle and skilful manner, others are openly and unashamedly running around promoting naked tribalism. 

I have no respect for people like Ngizwe Mchunu who goes around beating the drums of tribal chauvinism. He is not alone: Another group in KwaZulu Natal is campaigning on a ticket of creating "an independent Zulu nation". The party says that Zulu speaking people are suffering because they have to share the same space with other ethnic groups. Pure madness!!

As we celebrate 30 years of democracy we can learn a lot from Rwanda that is celebrating 30 years since the 1994 genocide. The civil conflict resulted when two groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis, were manipulated to see each other as enemies. The consequences of dividing a unified nation based on ethnic superiority led to a genocide and that's why South Africans must condemn this divisive behaviour whenever it shows its ugly head.

I wrote a short article in 2021 titled "My Politics". In the article I argue that we should all be proud of our country before we are proud to be Sotho, Venda or Zulu. Being Xhosa should not be the reason why one would say "I'll never visit Venda": That's unSouth African. I want to go to Eastern Cape and be served with the best Umngqusho. When we get to Eastern Cape I want to try to speak Isixhosa like I was born in Transkei and when we proceed to Kwa-Zulu Natal Siyakhuluma!! When my Zulu friends visit me in Limpopo i want us to eat mopani worms and laugh about it. That's us; the people of Mzansi. 

I refuse to be divided because I know that despite our differences, there is more that brings us together than keeps us apart. I am an African. 

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