The planned march against the foreigners in Pretoria is cause for serious concern. This country is yet to fully recover from the ugly xenophobic scenes of 2008, which famously claimed the life of one Ernesto Nhamuave, a Mozambican national set alight in Ramaphosa informal settlement. Frankly, the xenophobic outburst of 2008 and the subsequent skirmishes have achieved nothing for the perpetrators, and nor did the government take bold steps to address the root cause. A few verbal denouncements and antixenophobic awareness campaigns here and there, and we buried our heads in the sand hoping the problem would disappear. The reality is that we are still experiencing an influx of illegal immigrants, especially from our neighbouring Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, the undesirable state of the economy in other parts of Africa, coupled with pockets of civil conflicts, make SA an attractive option despite our challenges. There is no doubt that South Africans are generally peace-loving and have for a...
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