This was due to xenophobic attacks suffered by our fellow brothers and sisters from the continent.
Although these acts were perpetuated by a handful of criminals in the name of xenophobia, unemployment, inequality and lack of business opportunities, potentially this has tainted the image of South Africa [to one] as a country that lacks tolerance.
One may even ask a question, if tolerance is one of the key fundamental principles our democracy is built on, then why allow certain individuals to tarnish this hard-earned democracy?
If one goes down memory lane before the dawn of democracy, flashbacks continue to haunt us of the devastating infrastructural damages endured by these countries at the hands of South African security forces who aimed to destroy and destabilise the freedom fighters who found refuge in the African soil, in the likes of Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Rhodesia and Ethiopia, etc. The spirit of brotherhood in arms reigned over any challenges of whether South Africans were foreign or otherwise.
[It was] comforting seeing respective communities, organisations and individuals demonstrating patronage and solidarity with foreign nationals, something that is welcomed and needs to be cemented going forward.Civil society mobilised communities to denounce the violence, and inter-ministerial committees on migration continued to do its work to ensure that the underlying socio-economic issues that have the potential to give rise to tensions between South Africans and foreign nationals are being dealt with.
Through the Department of Social Development, trauma counselling was provided to over 1 000 immigrants. This is indicative enough that these few individuals do not have the power, nor influence, over the majority. Let us embrace one another and learn to be tolerant of each other.
How will you celebrate Africa Day? Comment below, and let us know.
