Professional Documents
Culture Documents
the DRC, Somalia and other African countries where there was or is conflict. When our own war was
ongoing we were given refugee status in Angola, Botswana, Egypt, Libya, Zimbabwe, Swaziland,
Mozambique and many other African; as well as in European and Asian countries.
The South Africans, who lived in exile, were subjected to the rule of law of the country they were
accepted in. Those who were able to work did so in terms of the work permits granted to refugees in
those countries. In most instances, refugees were confined to specific areas where they lived. Our
decision as a nation, however, was to integrate refugees into communities so that they live as
normal a life as is possible.
Apartheid packaged us into language specific areas, and in most communities a South African who
came from another part of the country was negatively referred to as a "kom ver" or inkommer.
South Africans who have chosen to settle in the Western Cape have been described as refugees.
We also still use negative terms such as the kaffir, koelie and boesman when we describe each
other, based on racial identification. The older generation, who experienced the worst form of
indoctrination under apartheid, continues to behave in this manner. We need to assert the right of all
South Africans to live wherever they choose or please.
When Hitler began his murderous tirade and genocide of people of the Jewish faith, he attacked
their presence in the economic arena first, and used that to build momentum against people who
were German by birth. The Khoi genocide in the Western Cape was another murderous act that not
been properly documented and remains vague in our historical annals. That genocide was based on
the obliteration of a group of people by the colonizers. These events illustrate the deep-rootedness
anger and prejudice in our history.
It is critical that we take stock of what brought us to where we are and why we must avoid taking the
road backwards, which further engenders racial prejudice or Afrophobia. It is equally important that
foreign nationals living in South Africa should respect the rules that govern our country.
The complaints about foreign national taking over local economic activity are disconcerting. The
situation is far more complex. South Africans sometimes sell their businesses to foreign nationals
because nationals are not prepared to put up the purchase price. In other instances, South Africans
rent out their shops to foreign nationals because they make more income from the rent than they do
as shopkeepers. There are also allegations that some South African shop owners are behind the
attacks on foreign nationals who run spaza shops in our townships.
As we advocate for the respect and protection of foreign nationals, we should also emphasise that
foreign nationals should recognise that to be protected by the law they must first obey it. A business
license imposes obligations of paying tax, collecting VAT on items sold and registration of a
business. Illegal activity, as alleged, such as running a brothel or selling drugs from a business
premises is criminal whether it is a citizen of South Africa doing this or a foreign national doing so.
Enticing young school girls into prostitution reduces their lives to sex slavery and is wrong, whoever
does it.
South Africans who are unemployed find it difficult to accept that they are less qualified to be
employed in sectors such as the security, agricultural domestic work sectors of our economy. We
must condemn the notion that a refugee can be exploited and that refugees and asylum seekers are
condemned to being cheap labour. The reality is that many employers deliberately do not employ
South Africans because they disrespect our labour laws. This is a problem we must mobilise on. The
rights of all workers must be protected and unemployed South Africans must be given consideration
for work opportunities before any other person may be considered. Charity must begin at home.
The ANC condemns xenophobia. Equally, we condemn non compliance with the rule of law. We
expect the police to protect every human life. We also expect the police to act against illegal activity
of any kind.
We do not live on an island, but are part of the continent of Africa. As our countries continue to
develop we must expect that people will migrate throughout the continent. Let us form street
committees and zonal committees and exert our influence on all who live in our communities, and
work together to condemn all actions that divert us from our goals.
The demon of racialism, tribalism and xenophobia must be obliterated from our collective
progressive consciousness.