The rapid and alarming normalisation of shamelessly xenophobic language in recent days must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India, the Hindu nationalism of his rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party has emboldened his supporters to carry out regular and often fatal attacks against the country’s Muslim minority who live in fear following his re-election earlier this year. Mashaba is not alone. When Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi was the minister for health, he repeatedly made grotesquely xenophobic statements in an attempt to blame the crisis in the health system on migrants.The recent surge in xenophobic statements by public figures follows the attempt by the police, widely derided as seriously corrupt, to stage a raid on migrants eking out a living on the streets of central Johannesburg.
Mazibuko was in the news earlier this year after a recording emerged where she made disparaging comments about white and Indian workers in her department in a rage-filled rant. Her comments about a “banana republic” carry serious racial undertones against migrants. “Some foreign nationals who sell counterfeit goods and occupy buildings illegally in the Joburg CBD attacked our police with bottles and petrol bombs. This despicable crime against our state will never be tolerated. [Operation] Okae Molao will respond in full force to defend [the] rule of law,” Makhura said in a statement.
What is xenophobia?is it telling a person to go home a wrong thing?
The problem starts when we speak about the aggressors as if they are the victims just because they are foreigners. They do and get away with things here that would send them to the gallows in their own countries and we are expected to grin and bear it.
Attacking Police is reprehensible and deplorable. Despicable behavior need to be condemned nothing xenophobic about it.