There is no xenophobia in coloured communities

I ASKED President Ramaphosa if he knows that my constituency in the Cape Flats, in spite of being the most discriminated community in South Africa, has no quarrel with Africans from the diaspora trading in the informal sector where most of them operate.

There is no xenophobia in the coloured community.

The president responded by agreeing with me and expressed the wish that this will continue.

It is not only on the Cape Flats where ubuntu is embraced, but in all coloured areas like Eldorado Park in Gauteng and Wentworth in Durban.

I was very disappointed when the president hinted that informal trading may be restricted to South Africans only in certain sectors just like in Ghana and Botswana and like it is being considered in Nigeria.

This indicates that Africans in power in South Africa are turning their backs on fellow Africans who they now call foreigners.

I raised the matter of discrimination towards coloureds and cited the exclusion of coloureds in the appointment of members of the National Youth Development Agency. The president agreed that the discrimination needed to be addressed and stated that the marginalisation of coloured youth on the NYDA has been noted and the appointments referred back to the parliamentary appointments committee. I gave the president the heads-up that when it is AL JAMA-AH’s turn to ask him an oral question in Parliament it will be to ask if he supports a commission if inquiry into discrimination against coloureds along the lines the Theron Commission did during the harshest days of apartheid. South Africa ranks high in the world with regard to inequalities and its freedom will be fake if Africans in power continue to discriminate against coloureds and continue with their “African preferential policy” with regard to jobs, housing, basic services and economic activities.

When I asked the president if he agreed that we must not estrange fellow Africans from all over the continent by barring them from jobs and trading opportunities in our economy, including the informal sector, he made it clear that there will be South African solutions to South African challenges.

As it was Women’s Month, will the president consider a visa-free entry for African women into South Africa and let them access the informal sector for a livelihood?

The president did not reply but he quipped: “One president one Africa” is politics.

GANIEF HENDRICKS | Leader of AL JAMA-AH in Parliament