Xenophobia

I have been meaning to write about this for a while. Well figured it would be appropriate as one of the posts about SA. This is not something I experienced, since being back here, but more while I was in London. I personally think South African’s are the most xenophobic bunch of people, it is disguising. It could be partly blamed to the segregation era, we were divided according to different tribes and classes. Even looking at the geography, Zulus are on their own, and so are Xhosas, Tswanas, etc.

The worst thing is that, this still exists today. i once went to a South African party, in the summer (well British summer), it was in South East London. I have never ever felt like such an outcast, amongst my own people. i get there, and everyone automatically assumes I am not one of them, someone was shocked when the host, who’s the only person I knew, spoke to me in Zulu… they thought I am from the Caribbean. I get there, you find, the Pedi clan at one corner, the Zulu clan at another, etc. I dunno if it’s a matter of feeling comfortable and being able to speak your own language, but nah…I manage to speak about 9 of the eleven official languages,, cause I made a conscious decision to. And worse the girls would be at one end, and the boys another, with the girls giving me nasty looks and all. The only 2 people who spoke to me, were a Zimbabwean and a Nigerian dude. Eventually when I got introduces to one SA dude, he claims, well he wasn’t sure if I’d talk to them or be mean. I vowed that was the last time you see me at some so called SA party, never, and I never attempted to.

I guess, it’s a matter of choice. While at Uni, my school was very international, 60% of the students were non South African, and I never did cliques at all, I’d have friends from all walks of life, a bit of Pedi, Swati, Xhosa, Zimbo, German, ect. Whereas there were the tribal cliques. Even going out, I got to a point in third year, where I didn’t go to Kwaito clubs that much, my friends were from all over, and we had to find a common ground, and we found that with hip-hop. I’d always been open minded, you take me to a rave joint, I’d get down like I’d been doing it forever ( though that stuff gave me headaches), and we move to a hip-hop joint and I’d get down, and I’d still get down at a Kwaito joint, attempted dombolo and kwasa at some Congolese joints. Though amongst all these my heart rested with South African House and hip-hop.

But it is not even about the music or anything like that. I made a conscious decision to go out there and meet people, mix with them. Some of my friends wouldn’t be in the same room, when I had a leaving do in 2004 before moving to England, it was an interesting event, I have all sorts of friends, for all sorts of reasons. Before I left England, a friend was shocked how I had over 40 people coming to my leaving do, since most of hers had left for SA, and the truth is, there were only 2/3 South African’s at my do, my friends were from all over the world and that is how it has always been for me.

But the point is, South Africans are Xenophobic, and tend to keep to themselves. I find that really disgusting, and as a result I am sometimes seen as not a true South African, but foreign loving. I guess this would explain why I hadn’t dated a South African dude in a while. It was never a conscious decision not to. It just happened because of the places and people I hung with. But the positive thing is that, not all of them, most of my friends, are all open minded and world travelled, and tend to see the bigger picture. It tends to happen with rural based and township dwellers, who just think everyone is here to take over, etc. But the sad reality is that SA is an open market economy, so they better get on with the programme sooner than latter. As much as I understand, it is our history, but people refuse to move on, they are still trapped in the past. I guess the reality is that, as much as we are free etc, depends on how you view freedom, it is gonna take some time for things to change, for people to really be mentally and emotionally free. Especially since this is become a class based society, and the gap between the rich and poor is widening by the day.