Image Source: Melanie Verwoerd
Local – President Cyril Ramaphosa said he is deeply concerned and ashamed that nationals from other countries have in recent months been subjected to discrimination and ill-treatment in South Africa.
He delivered a public lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, ahead of the 46th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community this weekend.
The criminal actions of a few within South African communities amounted to a repudiation of the solidarity on which SADC was founded, Ramaphosa said. More than 178 000 African immigrants have since left the country, the majority of them from Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
“We cannot preach integration at summits and practise exclusion in our streets. I say this as a South African, to South Africans, first of all,” he said.
Youth Unemployment, a Threat to Regional Stability
More than half of SADC’s population is under the age of 30, a demographic that regional leaders have long pointed to as the community’s greatest asset and the engine of its future growth.
Yet across Southern Africa, many young people who stayed in school, graduated and did everything expected of them still cannot find work. Ramaphosa said this trend threatened the stability of every country in the region and could no longer be treated as a side issue by governments.
“Youth unemployment is one of the gravest threats to the stability, cohesion and progress of every country in our community. And it is one of the foremost obstacles to the realisation of Vision 2050.”
GBV Rooted in Attitudes that Must Be Confronted Early
Gender-based violence and femicide take different forms across Southern Africa, from intimate partner violence to sexual assault and killings, but share the same underlying causes, according to Ramaphosa. He described the problem as rooted in attitudes, institutions and practices that discriminate against women.
He said the region’s response had to focus on prevention and support for survivors, and that the burden of change could not fall on women alone.
“Prevention does not begin with women. It begins with the men and the boys in our homes, our schools, our churches, our workplaces and our taverns, who must be raised to reject violence and abuse.”
