Ambassador Carl Niehaus reflects on the urgent need for unity in South Africa amidst rising Afrophobia and the challenges of migration.
As a lifelong Pan-Africanist, a veteran of the liberation struggle and a soldier of the People’s Liberation Army, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and now a Member of Parliament for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), I write this today with a heavy heart.
The challenges confronting our beloved South Africa are profound, none more so than the vexed question of how we manage and control the movement of our fellow Africans across our borders and within our communities. This is not an abstract policy debate for me. It strikes at the core of who I am, what I fought for over decades, who we as patriotic South Africans should be, and what we envision for our continent.
Recently, together with my fellow brother and comrade, Senior EFF member of the EFF Central Command Team (CCT), Commissar Sam Matiase, I co-authored an opinion piece in IOL underscoring the urgent need for proper management, registration, and documentation of fellow Africans as part of a broader process of administration. I urge those who read this personal testimony to go back and read that article again, to properly understand the context in which I am articulating these views. Our goal is to foster genuine unity and drive economic development across the African continent. In the true spirit of Pan-Africanism, we argued for a united Africa that harnesses its resources to empower its people on the global stage.
