Let sanity prevail in Msukaligwa

Xenophobia. Until recently a word few people had even heard of, knew the meaning of and much less knew how to spell.

Our clever friend Wikipedia describes xenophobia as “the unreasoned fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange”.

The Oxford English Dictionary puts it more strongly: “deep-rooted, irrational hatred towards foreigners”, while Webster’s describes it as “unreasonable fear or hatred of the unfamiliar”.

Whichever definition one chooses to embrace, one could not really conjure up a true picture or image in the mind that truly illustrated this phenomenon.

Until very recently, that is.

The images, video footage and news reports that have greeted us through the various media forms over the past three weeks have left most of us filled with shock, disbelief, sadness and anger.

The mind boggles to think that human beings can stoop to such a level of intolerance and hatred toward one another.

The place in the sun that was once there for everyone has now been hijacked, robbed and claimed by a few selfish individuals, driven by some unfathomable force or motive.

I sincerely hope and trust that I will not be proved wrong, but we, the citizens of Ermelo, have so far thankfully been spared these acts of hatred, intolerance and thuggery. I know I don’t stand alone in making an appeal to everyone in the greater Msukaligwa area to be tolerant of one another and treat one another with respect.

Yes, we have serious issues to deal with due to, among others, the collapse of service delivery caused by the lack of “sleeves-rolled-up-leadership” by those who should have led from the start. but xenophobia has nothing to do with these issues.

Resorting to violently assaulting fellow human beings has seldom, if ever, achieved the desired results, much less has burning, looting and killing the very people we have bought goods and supplies from when it suited us. They, too, deserve a place in the sun.

What does one hope to achieve by trashing and looting a grocery store or spaza shop? The armfuls of goods carried out by individuals usually don’t even last a day.

But the heartache and suffering imposed on fellow human beings lasts forever.

Let us also not forget the

consequences for the perpetrators.

Please, Msukaligwa,

let sanity prevail.