Abstract
Foreigners go home! This is a reverberating chorus at the heart of the migration crisis everywhere in the world. This call manifests itself in the recurring xenophobic or Afrophobic attacks directed at foreign nationals in South Africa. This article reflects on the most recent xenophobic attacks directed at foreign nationals during the anti-immigration march, held on 24 February 2017, in the City of Tshwane (South Africa). This article states that calls for foreigners to go home and the xenophobic or Afrophobic violent attacks that accompanied them were a direct attack on ubuntu. It was an attack that rendered ubuntu ‘homeless’ and reflected the direct opposite of what an African community generally stands for. It was also an attack directed towards the migrant God; hence, the article proposes a re-imagination of the theology of ubuntu and the agency of faith communities as an antidote to the recurring calls for foreigners to go home.
Highlights
Foreigners go home! This phrase constitutes a hostile response that migrants face globally – a response which is at the heart of a growing migration crisis today
The reality is that contestation, resentment and xenophobic violent encounters against foreign nationals continue to cloud our social discourse around migration, inclusivity and the politics of exclusion in the global arena
Africa’s contribution to the deepening crisis of migration amidst calls for foreign nationals to go home, as proposed in this article, is the theology of ubuntu. This theology seeks to tap into the African philosophy of life and promote social cohesion by people reminding each other of the need for co-existence, co-operation, co-ownership and co-sharing
Summary
Foreigners go home! This phrase constitutes a hostile response that migrants face globally – a response which is at the heart of a growing migration crisis today. Speaking in the context of using the concept of ‘ubuntu’ in the Sesotho language and context, LenkaBula (2008:380) shares the same sentiments: ‘[m]ost scholars rightly assert that botho conveys the values of respect, humane relationships, and compassion and/or caring for other human beings’ Tapping into this African philosophy of life, with particular reference to the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa, former Archbishop Desmond Tutu developed the theology of ubuntu (ubuntology). It is dehumanising to treat foreign nationals as different others while we should be sharing our common human heritage and values enshrined in ubuntu as an African way of life This kind of advocacy speaks of the prophetic voice of faith institutions like the church. In this regard, Pillay (2017:14) says, ‘[t]he Church must continue in the struggle for justice in South Africa, and in particular economic justice’
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