The challenge now is to transform the crisis that the protests have created into a serious discussion among ourselves and with our African neighbours about how to confront the challenges of migration and find solutions together. If we are to have an honest conversation about immigration, we must ask why so many Africans leave their homes in the first place.
Over the past few months, South Africans have witnessed scenes that would trouble the conscience of any nation.
Vigilante groups have hunted down immigrants in their homes and in the streets. Spaza shops have been looted and burnt. Families who came here seeking opportunity and safety have been herded into makeshift encampments, while African governments have had to hire buses and charter special flights to evacuate their citizens from a country they once regarded as a beacon of hope.
Men and women who share our continent, our history and, in many cases, our struggle for freedom, have been made to feel like strangers, intruders and outcasts. They have been told that they do not belong.
Those who are behind the protests say that unchecked immigration has brought more people into our country than we can cope with, that they have taken our jobs and our houses, and brought crime to our neighbourhoods. We are told that we do not have the space or the resources to offer refuge to people fleeing the failures in their own societies.
