Calls for govt to quell attacks on foreign nationals ahead of Freedom Day
The Foundation for Human Rights says South Africans are justified in their frustrations as the country prepares to celebrate Freedom Day on Wednesday.
This year will mark 28 years since the first democratic elections, a momentous occasion for a country that spent decades under apartheid rule.
On 27 April 1994, millions of South Africans took to the polls to exercise their right to vote for the very first time - filled with the hope and promise of a newfound democracy.
Almost 30 years later, South Africa is counted among the most unequal societies in the world.
The country is also faced with record-high unemployment rates, high crime statistics, a lacklustre economy, as well as unstable politics.
While the foundation's deputy director, Zaid Kimmie, admits South Africa has made substantial progress since the 1994 transition to democracy, he raised some concern that the progress has been slow.
"The fruits of democracy haven't filtered down to everyone and there are many for whom the past is not so far away, and they can see the vestiges of our pre-1994 world - the economic inequality, the lack of opportunities and even attitudes and messages in the society.
"We've come a long way but there's still a lot to do. But it is still worth celebrating."
This Freedom Day the foundation is calling on all South Africans to recommit to collectively build the country's constitutional democracy in which the human dignity, equality, and freedom of everyone is recognised.
This includes migrants.
SA is notorious for xenophobic attacks, with some of the worst attacks on foreign nationals recorded in 2017.
In recent weeks, mushrooming community groups have reignited concerns of fresh attacks.
This includes anti-crime campaigns by Operation Dudula is Gauteng.
Kimmie believes migrants have long been used as scapegoats in the country.
"One the one hand these have very real material drivers - inequality, lack of opportunity, poverty. That means that populations that are affected by those things are more likely to find someone to blame but the culprits are the politicians.
"The migrant population is an easy target but even if we didn't have a large non-South African population here, their ire would be turned towards someone else."
"It's a collective failure. We can't excuse the people who do the actual violence, they are culpable even though they have material reasons for doing what they do, but I think the large majority of the blame falls on our political leadership for not speaking out strongly enough," says Kimmie.
Kimmie adds it's not all doom and gloom.
"These are complicated issues, and we shouldn't underplay that people have real issues they have to deal with and there's real anger but there's also a lot of commitment, at least on our side, to resolving those issues and to moving forward."
The foundation has also been at pains to emphasize that access to human rights is not limited by nationality.
