Xenophobia film clinches global award

Rosettenville attack inspires the clip

“Foreigners are job thieves who are only good enough for cheap labour. Nigerian men are drug lords and pimps. Congolese men are good car guards‚ but their women are dirty‚ uneducated and breed a lot of children.”

These are some of the stereotypes that inspired two Congolese sisters who grew up in South Africa to record a short film aimed at setting the record straight.

The clip‚ titled Singabantu – We Are Human‚ has since won the international I Am Migrant award.

One of the sisters‚ Sophie Kanza‚ said the push to produce the 90-second clip came after the Rosettenville community went on the rampage in February‚ burning the houses and everything belonging to foreign nationals.

“We had stayed two houses away from the house [which was first set alight] in Rosettenville‚ but had moved because of all the drugs and prostitution – but we still lived close to there‚” said Kanza‚ recalling the day the unrest started.

“I get goose bumps thinking about it‚” Kanza told Sowetan, noting that while it was known that some foreign nationals were up to no good, not all of them were like that.

“I think the community [which is engaged in crime] is painting all foreigners with the same brush. We are all painted as drug dealers and pimps and, unfortunately‚ we cannot be removed from the situation‚ because people don’t know how to differentiate between us.”

In the film‚ they profiled foreigners who spoke of the painful stereotypes.