We can learn many lessons from foreigners

And now, as the dust begins to settle and life reverts to whatever semblance of normality, now that the pangas, knives and guns have been put to bed, the time has come for South Africans to look in the mirror and ask themselves: do we know what we are becoming; do we like who we are?

The recent violence was not xenophobic attacks: it was criminality disguised as xenophobia…

This was symptoms of a nation who wanted someone to blame. They had to put a face to their struggles; they wanted someone whom they could identify as the cause of the poverty, hunger and joblessness.

Those who had to cross through customs with immigration papers in hand would bear the brunt of the anger.

I asked myself, who are these men and women who are always ready to go to war and loot? Loot shops and run into the sunset as if they had accomplished greatness.

Why are they not in internet cafes printing their CVs – or dusting off the toil of the day as they work on construction sites for a minimum wage?

Why are these women not working to clean school toilets, to keep food on their tables?

The answer is simple: South Africans want to be enslaved by a victim mentality. It is far easier to ask “why me” than it is to declare: “I will anticipate greater doors opening for me.”

Some jobs pay peanuts – but some of us have worked those peanut-paying jobs.

I, for one, have lived from hand to mouth. Today, I cannot believe the resilience I had to get past that awful stage.

But I could not sit at home and say the money was not enough, I’d rather sit at home…

We are not willing to work. We won’t take opportunities that are available while we improve ourselves for the opportunities we want.

Yes, people, mostly foreigners, work for lower pay – but that does not mean they are selling their souls. Those are people who had to put their “I-am-better-than-that” attitude aside to eat, educate and raise their families.

South Africans can learn a lesson from them…

Kekeletso Nakeli-Dhliwayo.

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