Abstract

In order to arrest historical amnesia among South Africans, it is necessary to raise a public campaign of awareness on how the majority of African countries beyond the Limpopo contributed significantly in assisting the liberation of South Africans. Xenophobic or Afrophobic outbursts since 2008 have scarred the South African nation and tarnished its international reputation. Therefore, it is essential that a re-evaluation is made of the myriad ways in which other African nations gave military training and humanitarian assistance to thousands of South African refugees, and of how the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM), the United Nations (UN) and the Commonwealth platforms strongly agitated for the end of minority rule. Furthermore, the economic destabilisation and terrorism that was inflicted on the Front-Line States (FLS) by the white minority-led state also need to be remembered by a new generation of South Africans. Fundamentally, whilst South Africans sacrificed their lives for political freedom, there were other sister African nations who sacrificed critical resources and human lives to see the end of apartheid on the African continent.

Highlights

  • It has been 24 years since South Africa had witnessed the collapse of apartheid to become a non-racial demo­ cratic state, which was met with euphoria, in South Africa, but across the African continent and throughout the world

  • Whilst 24 years is a drop in time, those years have been marred by the vicious outbursts of xenophobia/Afrophobia in South Africa in 2008, 2010 and 2015.1 On 24 February 2017 the South African Police Service (SAPS) employed water cannons and stun grenades to disperse anti-immigration protesters in the capital, Pretoria, when the protest became violent.[2]

  • It was the spirit of Pan-Africanism that motivated the efforts of the Front-Line States (FLS) and other African nations to assist in the liberation struggle of South Africa and, the recent violence and hostility directed at other black Africans residing in South Africa is wholly unethical and immoral in the context of the material sacrifices

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

It has been 24 years since South Africa had witnessed the collapse of apartheid to become a non-racial demo­ cratic state, which was met with euphoria, in South Africa, but across the African continent and throughout the world. Whilst 24 years is a drop in time, those years have been marred by the vicious outbursts of xenophobia/Afrophobia in South Africa in 2008, 2010 and 2015.1 On 24 February 2017 the South African Police Service (SAPS) employed water cannons and stun grenades to disperse anti-immigration protesters in the capital, Pretoria, when the protest became violent.[2] According to the journalist Jean Pierre Misago, “The reality is that this type of violence is a daily occurrence in the country, it does not always get media attention It has, become a long-standing feature in post-apartheid South Africa.”[3] This article asserts that it is necessary and important to reflect on how the African continent, and the Front-Line States (FLS), contributed to the struggle to end apartheid, liberating South Africa in particular, and southern Africa generally, from the brutalities of white minority rule. South Africa, in particular, was considered an important region in the world as, “investments and access to important minerals were among the most important imperatives for the superpowers’ support of the apartheid government”.7 Ndlovu provides a

The author argued in “Cry my beloved South Africa
MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO THE LIBERATION MOVEMENTS
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO SOUTH AFRICAN REFUGEES
THE IMPACT AND COSTS OF APARTHEID DESTABILISATION ON THE FLS
CUBA’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE LIBERATION OF SOUTH AFRICA
Findings
CONCLUSION
Full Text
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