Cape Town - Several predominantly youth-led organisations, aligned in their strong stance against xenophobia and Afrophobia, gathered for a public educational and cultural programme held on Heritage Day at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town.
For several days prior to the programme, flyers from the “I am an African” anti-xenophobia rally were distributed at and near public transport hubs and the venue, informing the public of the free-to-attend programme.
Key in organising the event were the Cape Youth Collective (Cayco), African Climate Alliance, Congolese Civil Society of South Africa, YouthArise, 56 Tambo, South African Jews for a Free Palestine, South African Refugee-Led Network, Pan Africanist
Congress of Azania, and the Somali Association of South Africa.
For some attendees on the day, it was their first time inside the Castle, located across from the city centre's major public transportation hub.
Serving as the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa, it was built between 1666 and 1679 by slaves and Khoikhoi.
The premises has seen its reclamation by its descendants, with public programmes, including frequent cultural and heritage programmes, and permanent exhibitions, held within its premises. These are part of active efforts to decolonise the fort.
It was within these parameters that the collective of organisations expressed their condemnation of and denouncement of Afrophobia and xenophobia through musical and cultural performances, poetry, speeches, and art.
Supporting organisations present also included the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Housing Assembly, Equal Education, and the Triangle Project.
The organisations present had stands stationed on the sides, allowing attendees to access information, resources and support.
The event was open to people of all ages, with children participating in child-friendly activities, and they could be seen running through the scores of people, while attendees were kept enthralled by musical performances.
Cayco member Liesl Prinsloo said the organisation was a collective of young people mobilising for social justice.
Recent mobilisation and actions related to the teacher cuts in the province, rallying and supporting displaced communities, raising funds for much needed causes such as housing, and solidarity protests. This is often done in collaboration with other organisations and movements.
Prinsloo said, as can be seen through history, African people were semi-nomadic, moving through the lands, reiterating that borders were imported constructs.
“We also firmly believe that no human being is illegal and if we look at our more recent heritage, South Africans were also refugees in other African countries and so to turn our backs on them is horrible, first and foremost. We believe that everyone deserves access to shelter, food, education and dignity most of all.
“So we thought it was a very important time, especially with the politicians taking advantage of rising xenophobia in order to hide their own ineptitude,” Prinsloo said.
“African immigrants and refugees are not the problem. These people are adding to their communities, they deserve to feel safe in a South Africa that is kind to them.”
CCSSA chairperson and newly elected chairperson of the South African Refugee-Led Network, Isaiah Mombilo, said Heritage Day in South Africa should not exclude other Africans. These included African immigrants and refugees who are resident in South Africa.
He added that ubuntu could not be practised in a country where xenophobia and Afrophobia were also present, as these were mutually incompatible.
“It is diminishing our value as African people, because we come a long way with so many challenges of slavery and we passed that. We then went through the challenge of colonialism, there's apartheid, so nature already punished us in so many ways already before.
“So why must we create our own punishment again by bringing in xenophobia. The price African people face with xenophobic sentiment is beyond measure, because some lost their life, some lost their loved ones, some lost the education of their children. So the price is beyond the calculation.”
ACA coordinator said the organisation was a youth-led movement, acting and advocating for afro-centric climate justice, and that the fight for climate justice should be intersectional and intergenerational.
“And so when we call for energy justice, when we call for water justice, food justice, spatial justice, gender justice, we are all also needing to call for global solidarity and unity on our continent. None of these things will be won in isolation. It's critical to remind South Africans that our own fight for justice was not won in isolation.
“But won because of the solidarity and love of fellow African brothers and sisters and others across the continent.”
Owethu Siphiwo Ndwandwe, part of the band Kujenga, performed at the programme.
“We know that South Africa has always been, but even right now, have faced this issue with Afrophobia, xenophobia, with the last incident of the Miss SA. We always put the approach that these are tools used by our oppressors, bringing down our neighbours.
“When I say our neighbours, it's our neighbours by borders that colonisers had set. We are actually really one and this is one that we want to keep playing about, keep singing about, and this event was specifically about that.”
At Bertha House, a screening of “One The Line”, a film about South Africa’s deportation was screened, a day after the programme as part of the broader educational programme.
Weekend Argus