Xenophobia: South Africa is no island

As a growing country, we must be mindful South Africa is no island.

No matter the articulation of its people, the liberating freedoms enshrined in the constitution that governs the land or even the justice system that is and should be free from passion… albeit all these measures of a society borne out of the inequalities that defined our country for decades.

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That every time the country has a xenophobic flare up, our ever reactionary government goes through great pains to try and convince everyone that these are not acts of a deep rooted level of hatred for Africans of foreign descent – these, the government labels them, are acts of criminality.

We cannot remedy what we would allow to go undiagnosed. I’ve never understood how our government officials can travel to these countries, sign agreements with the powers that be and talk about our extended familial relationships, yet under their watch allow a bloodbath to continue unabated of their people in our country.

Where have the government initiatives been to engage with the perpetrators of these acts of criminality that manifest themselves in deep-rooted hatred?

While we may continuously send in law enforcement who cannot and should not approach the situation of illegalities with emotion.

Where is the government intervention that rolls out people trained and equipped to then approach the situation with empathy and diagnostic tools to assist in finding a lasting solution to a problem that seems to reoccur from time to time… leaving hundreds displaced, brewing feelings of resentments.

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People will continue to be sacrificial lambs, they will continue to carry blame for every shortcoming the country faces. If we cannot identify and quantify their costs to the economy – they automatically become the reason our country is failing to grow.

The hatred is both ways – South African and foreign. The rampant and unchecked corruption, looting by government employees, the ideology that once entry is gained to the public purse, one must enrich themselves and their family members – how is that not a bigger reason?

The intolerance is so blindingly visible but will continue unabated until government decides there has been enough of a bloodbath – that resources will be made available to combat whatever brewing resentment that lies dormant, only to raise its ugly head at the expense of sometimes innocent migrants.

Be it tackling its own immigration policies or by educating our people, something has to give.