We’re often quick to forget that somehow, somewhere, we’re all ‘foreigners’. In fact, I only use this word because that’s the one being thrown around in the media in South Africa and the continent as a whole at the moment. Other than that, I avoid it like the plague.
Let’s face it: those who are going around stabbing, clubbing and robbing others because they’re ‘foreigners’ won’t read a post like this. Granted. But in our own way, we should all recognize that, at the end of the day, we are one. Hatred gets us absolutely nowhere. Here and now, we as the 1Africa team – a team composed of a mix of people: white, black, South African, non-South African, single, married, guys and girls – condemn xenophobia. Why? Because xenophobia is silly. We condemn outright the killing of Emmanuel Sithole, a 35-year old Mozambican street vendor on the streets of Alexandra, Johannesburg. We also condemn any kind of violence done in retaliation.
This witty, funny ad done by Nando’s a while back should remind us that none of us has the right to refer to the other as ‘foreigner’ (which I actually read to mean ‘stranger’ and ‘outsider’).
Only when we realize that we are one, and stronger in our diversity, will we make true progress as Africans.