Lessons learnt from South Africa’s renowned Truth and Reconciliation Committee are lost among its people.
Zimbabwean refugees escaping from Mugabe are being:
raped and injured, being rejected by hospital staff or charged exorbitant fees.
Zimbabwe is in a sorry state, but South African attitudes are making it worse. Where are the abused men, women and children supposed to go if they can’t even cross the border?
Amazingly, South Africans don’t even treat children properly. MSF doctors are reporting that unaccompanied children:
…crossing the border … were “exposed to many forms of abuse and violence”
Not only are Zimbabweans are being mis-treated, but it seems that South Africans are falling prey to xenophobia. News 24 reports that refugees in SA are not even protected by the courts:
The Western Cape High Court is expected to hear an application on Tuesday for the eviction of more than 400 xenophobia refugees … The refugees … were part of thousands of foreigners who were displaced during a spate of xenophobic violence last year…They have refused to return to their communities and have called for repatriation to their home countries…More than 60 people were killed countrywide in the xenophobic attacks last May.
South Africa is a destination country for refugees from Zimbabwe, Congo and elsewhere. These people have suffered persecution and violence just as the black SA-ns did during the decades of apartheid rule.
Now, these SA-ns are showing that they do not care about the lessons learnt from their fight against racial discrimination. Nelson Mandela once said:
“As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
and
“I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.”
Black SA-ns are now free from their “own fear” of Afrikaners, but are now instilling fear among refugees from other parts of Africa. These refugees are all black, and most share linguistic and religious ties with SA-ns.
South Africans are not yet at peace with themselves. It is a pity that a nation suppressed and discrimated against for so long will do the same for people seeking help from them.
I guess they are “following” some of Mandela’s wisdom:
Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.
Yep, they believe in hiding their goodness.
