chamberCape Town Chamber of Commerce Events

coc-jhb

Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce Events

commerceDurban Chamber of Commerce Events

Industry Thought LeadershipIndustry Thought Leadership

ilo

Anglo AmericanCorporate Platinum Sponsor

General 

XENOPHOBIA

Posted by   

ATT: THE EDITOR – BUSINESS DAY

Email: busday@bdfm.co.za

Re: XENOPHOBIA

The recent outbreak of xenophobia does not arise in a vacuum. Xenophobia normally thrives in an environment where our leaders in particular our political leadership tend to encourage it. We have seen two of our ANC Ministers condoning the behaviour. It is a sad day when nasty behaviour of this nature becomes the order of our society. We’ve come from a long history of a very hurtful divided past, as this memory fades we tend to act out similar behaviour albeit on a different basis. We should do everything in our power to remember our apartheid past as it is this memory which will allow us to condemn xenophobia and criminal behaviour in the future. The Jewish people had similar events in Europe in the 30’s and 40’s and ask any person of Jewish descent whether they recall kristallnacht when the Germans attacked Jewish shop owners. You will get a positive response as that is etched in the memory of an entire nation.

We can take a leaf out of the book of the Australian society where they are doing everything in their power to integrate the over 200 different cultures in their country. Research done by Monash University shows that the vast majority of Australians have an incredibly positive attitude towards immigration and multiculturalism. In an interesting article in the Australian Financial Review, 24th January 2015 Peter Scanlon said as follows “A diverse workforce places Australia in good stead to meet the global challenges of tomorrow. It makes us more innovative, more responsive and better able to reflect and understand the needs of emerging and global markets; but only if we are able to continue fostering diversity and ensuring our workplaces are inclusive.”

It appears that our society is going in exactly the opposite direction, we are making it more and more difficult for foreigners to work in South Africa, buy land in South Africa and even invest here. We are becoming inward looking and this thinks as much as going back into the larger.

MICHAEL BAGRAIM

2 February 2015