ONCE again, South Africa is torn apart by bitter debates about how to handle immigrants following the resurgence of xenophobic attacks on Africans from other countries in Durban this week.
The attacks, which started earlier this week, have seen pillaging spread to Verulam north of Durban, following a day of clashes between locals, foreigners and police in the city centre, KwaZulu-Natal police said.
Police said about 300 local people looted foreign-owned shops in Durban. At least five people were killed in these attacks and thousands displaced, according to official police reports.
This has sparked a major debate, with ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe saying he believes South Africa needs to tighten regulations on foreigners entering the country.
He was out of line because this was not the time to make such a statement. He should have condemned the violence against foreigners unconditionally.
But the attacks also correctly unleashed a barrage of criticism with several public figures - including actress Terry Pheto and radio personality Pabi Moloi - posting anti-xenophobic messages on social media this week.
Driven by falsehood
The outrage against foreigners is driven by one major falsehood. Many South Africans see foreigners moving into their cities or townships and fret about changes to the traditional fabric of society.
Comments made by the Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini, are a perfect example of this. Speaking at a moral regeneration event in KwaZulu-Natal’s Pongola, Zwelithini reportedly said: "... foreigners must pack their bags and go home".
But people who make these comments and the actual attackers of foreigners should know that South Africa’s major centres of commerce - Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town - are global cities.
Thousands of people come from across the planet to start small businesses and work in consultancies, banks, theatres, hospitals, the media and higher education institutions in these cities.
It will be tough to hold our own against internationally competitive businesses if vital, creative people are kept out by obstinately hostile sentiment against foreigners.
South Africa’s major centres are recognised as competitive and open cities. A major part in this standing should be their ability to appreciate foreigners and to allow them to settle peacefully into an accepting and cosmopolitan setting.
Lagos, Nairobi and Luanda – all African cities I have visited - do much the same thing to foreigners.
It would be dreadful if our major centres were to lose their cosmopolitan status because of the fleeting risk presented by anti-foreigner emotion currently pushed by a few people.
A large part of the attraction of South Africa’s major centres is their multi-ethnic nature. They are so much more global now than, say, 30 years ago, and so much more diverse.
That makes it pretty much inconceivable for us to go back to the past.
My 11-year-old daughter has classmates from Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to name just a few, and she has never had any complaints about them. How I wish that children's good international relations could be replicated by adults throughout South Africa.
Remember the dark and evil days of apartheid, when South African cities hardly had any Africans from other countries? What a fool’s wonderland we lived in.
The government – whose head, President Jacob Zuma, admitted that it has been slow to address the concerns South Africans and foreigners alike raised in the past - needs to recognise our cities' exceptionalism as they start to fix the heads of a few xenophobic people in the country.
*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.