Calls to end xenophobic attacks
2013-03-15 14:41
Johannesburg - South Africans need to make an effort to
get to know and befriend foreigners in the country, former SA Council of
Churches (SACC) general secretary Brigalia Bam said on Friday.
"There is a lot of mistrust, there is a lot of
jealousy, there is a lot of irritation... mostly over jobs," she told
Daveyton residents at a public meeting.
"There is no need to be violent. Violence will not
solve the problem. People will still come to South Africa."
Bam was speaking on xenophobia at the Charles Wesley
Methodist Church.
"It [xenophobia] is not going to end today. We need
to find ways and means of knowing the people that are here," she said.
"We have a tradition here, and we must keep to that
tradition of taking care of strangers."
She said people needed to find ways of living together.
"When we receive a stranger at our homes, you may
not necessarily like the stranger... reactions are not always the best, but you
have to pretend."
Bam said South Africans also had an expectation of
strangers to behave.
When South Africans visited other countries they abided
by the foreign laws and did not stay forever.
"It is unknown how many living in South Africa are
not South Africans.
"It's going to be a very long journey. In the
continent on which we live, there are many conflicts, and we are part of that
conflict," she said.
- SAPA
