I am writing this on the 30th of June, as the country holds its collective breath over the fate of immigrants in our country. The city centre of Johannesburg is a ghost town. The marches have been mostly peaceful but there have been two shooting incidents so far.
Two of the commentators I have listened to have been Archbishop Buti Tlhagale and previous President Thabo Mbeki. The position of the archbishop is that we are telling the world that we are ungrateful for the support that our country received during the struggle for freedom, in particular the welcome extended to the exiled leadership of movements like the ANC and PAC. He quotes Leviticus 19, which says “you shall love the stranger as yourself, as you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” The scriptures advocate strongly for a loving and respectful welcome of the stranger. This is obviously more complicated today than 2000 years ago, with the rise of the nation state and fixed borders and requirements for citizenship.
President Mbeki perspective is that the demonstrators, no matter how well intentioned, are demonstrating against the wrong people. Our economic and unemployment problems are not due to African immigrants, legal or otherwise, but due to corruption, criminality and state capture. Up until 2009 the GDP was growing at 6% and then it began a sharp decline, from which we have still not recovered. He pointed out that there are people promoting an anti-immigrant agenda to distract from their own role in the tanking of the economy.
Websites such as Daily Maverick and ENCA have done investigative reporting which shows clearly the conflicted interests of the leadership of the anti-immigrant wing in the country. The tragedy is that our country has the potential to create employment opportunities far more than what we are currently doing. Our GDP could be growing significantly more than the 1% which is projected for 2026. Blaming immigrants is easier than doing the much harder work of stopping and prosecuting those who are to blame. Our enemies have succeeded in scapegoating the foreigner. Don’t let them get away with it. Challenge the lazy assumptions / prejudices you hear from family, friends and community members. Be vocal in your support of migrants, legal and illegal, because no matter how people got here, they deserve to be treated with respect.
