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Foreign friends

A COUPLE of years ago, I was commissioned to write a series of articles on immigrants, for which I interviewed seven or eight people, all of whom came to this country from places in greater Africa. And I was blown away.

Their stories were so powerful and spoke so profoundly of the injection of energy and talent that immigrants bring with them to a country.

P, the car guard from Rwanda who became a Mandela Rhodes scholar and then went on to be a successful corporate executive, changed my attitude to car guards completely. Now, when I hear the car guards at my local Woolies talking French, I think of him and tip generously.

Maybe one of them is destined to go on and become a great teacher or scientist or activist. There are five of them, so the odds are good, because the process of immigration tends to select those who have drive and talent.

P’s tale of his journey was quintessential: the flight to a neighbouring country following a post-1994 massacre, where his little stash of cash was ripped off; his long walk down the coast of Africa, through Mozambique, to end up sick and hungry in a camp outside Maputo; the late-night trek to and through the border; the trip to Durban where the Rwandan community found him a spot as a car guard.

How many of us pampered middle-class types could cope with a journey like this? He arrived bound and determined to make something of himself. And he did.

My dear singer-songwriter friend in Durban, RT, has also made a success of his life. His trip to South Africa was not so hard, but it followed a pretty harrowing time in the DRC, his home country. And then he had to deal with extreme racism in his first job as a gardener (his employers were Indian South Africans, by the way; evidence that racism is a nuanced thing).

RT’s countrywoman, whom I interviewed in Pretoria, told me how, during her escape through Africa, she and her husband were accidentally separated in the madness, and she landed up in South Africa alone with small children, not knowing what had become of him, something that still makes my flesh crawl when I think of it. And she had such a bad time trying to get refugee status. She is now a huge contributor to society, with an activist role as well.

People with children fleeing from the mob

I think of them often. Especially now. Among the people grabbing their children’s hands and fleeing from the mob are people just like them.

And dear heaven! The children! Spare a thought for what it does to the children. I am sure many of you saw the picture of the little Syrian girl, terror written on her chubby face, who raised her hands in surrender to the cameraman? South African mobs are traumatising babies like her right here.

There are some questions I would like to hear answers to:

• Every time I travel in Africa beyond our borders, I hear South African accents in airports. There are a lot of South African companies doing business in greater Africa, which tends to be very generous in its welcome to us (although I have heard many complaints about the arrogance and pushiness of South Africa, the country).

As I write there’s an unconfirmed story that Malawi is deporting our high commissioner. What other repercussions might countries or their citizens contemplate in response to this ongoing xenophobia? And what is government doing in anticipation?

• I really, truly don’t mind if people want to retain their royals, but we, the taxpayers of South Africa, are paying for their upkeep. And there is always a kind of compact between royal family and people: they get obscene amounts of money from the labour and industry of the plebs, and in return they serve the people in some way. Queen Elizabeth II is one of the wealthiest people on earth, but she and her children all rake in zillions in tourism for Britain every year, for example.

I believe that King Goodwill Zwelithini receives in excess of R50m a year to maintain his household. In return, I think we can expect him to take a very active, loud and public role when violence erupts on his turf. As I write, while various government spokespeople hastened to assure us he was engaging smaller chiefs and so on, I had yet to see him on TV and radio loudly and forcefully calling for an end to violence. Why not?

• I heard our Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on 702 Talk Radio on April 14 agreeing that yes, the country had been caught on the back foot – as I recall it, she said they’d deployed police reactively rather than proactively, only where trouble broke out, without anticipating that trouble would shift, and deploying preventative forces in anticipation.

Well, why not, Minister – and all of government? We’ve been here before – not just in 2008, but in other outbreaks of violence over many, many years. This should be a no-brainer. Why are there no effective contingency plans, as it would seem? Why don’t you have a country-wide mapping of where foreigners are (since we the citizens have a good idea, it would seem that an engaged SAPS should too) so you can fend off trouble before it develops?

Answers on a postcard, please. (If it doesn’t arrive, you can blame the Post Office.)

*Mandi Smallhorne is a versatile journalist and editor. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on twitter.

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