DSC_2090.JPG Poor people competing for limited resources is one of the biggest causes of xenophobia, according to former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe.
DSC_2090.JPG Poor people competing for limited resources is one of the biggest causes of xenophobia, according to former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe.
Motlanthe was delivering the Pan African Youth Dialogue (PAYD) Africa Day lecture at Rhodes University's Eden Grove complex on Monday, 25 May on the theme “Rethinking 21st Century Pan Africanism”.
He said, "The essence of this problem [xenophobia]is when poor people have to scrounge for limited resources in order to eek out a living and so an attribute which is not supposed to define the totality of a human being is then used to discriminate against that human being".
It has been widely reported in the media that Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini's, statements about foreigners could have fuelled the attacks on foreign nationals.
Zwelithini was quoted as saying that foreigners must pack up and leave the country.
Responding to a question about this Motlanthe said, "That matter is being attended to by the Human Rights Commission at a formal level. So they will come up with a report on whether the King was the instigator in this case or not".
Motlanthe said over the centuries the international community has viewed South Africa as a beacon of hope.
"This is because the struggle for liberation in South Africa held so much promise to the rest of the world that it had the potential to find a lasting solution to the problem of racial discrimination, because this is a problem that is universal," he said.
Referring to the state's role in dealing with xenophobia, Motlanthe said it can do so without resorting to force, by making sure that people are documented.
He said government had taken measures to deal with the issue of making sure that people were registered as citizens, but the issue is that this comes in the wake of violence.
"The minister of Home Affairs has gone public on the rationale of attempting to document fellow Africans who come from sister countries," he said.
Once the violence is brought under control, it is hoped that normal methods of naturalising people – some of whom have been here for more than a decade – will carry on.
Motlanthe said illegal aliens face disadvantages as a result of their status in the country.
"The disadvantage of not being documented is that you are like a citizen of nowhere so that might work against some of them.
But we hope that we have learnt a lesson out of all these nasty difficulties.
Everyone is a foreigner somewhere.
As long as you are going to travel, as long as you are going to cross boarders, you are a foreigner," he said.
The lecture was chaired by politics lecturer, Siphokazi Magadla, and panellists included executive director of PAYD, Xolani Nyali, and Rhodes University Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), Dr Peter Clayton.
Motlanthe said it was important for South Africa to have such discussions because of recent events in the country.
“Today, more than ever, South Africa needs a continued conversation with itself on multiple levels that provides philosophical underpinnings for its recipient self-conscience," he said.
In his address, Nyali said his organisation (PAYD) came into being after former president, Thabo Mbeki, gave an address on the "The role of the youth in realising the African Renaissance,” in Grahamstown in 2009.
“PAYD aims to be an organisation that [is]a leading continental forum dedicated to achieving the renaissance of Africa and that is able to share in societal obligations,” he said.
Responding to a question about how the current youth can take the continent forward, Motlanthe said education was a key issue.
"You know, in the AU [African Union] 2063 agenda, the youth specifically demanded that the education qualification must be articulated in a standardised fashion so that if you acquire a qualification in Burundi, it should be recognised when you go to Nigeria or South Africa or Zimbabwe because the institutions of learning would have standardised these qualifications.
That's one of their demands because they are disadvantaged when they move across borders and find that their certificates are not recognised or accepted," he said.
Motlanthe said young people have to interact, adding that forums such as the one he was addressing are important from that point of view.
The older generation used to interact in the Organisation of African Unity liberation committees, so they knew each other, which made it easier to communicate.
anele@grocotts.co.za
