MASS MAIL 20 JUNE 2008 - NATIONAL REFUGEE DAY

THE FOUNDATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICA
"Participation Builds Unity"

"MADE IN AFRICA - FOR AFRICA"

FDA NEWSLETTER

MASS MAIL
20 JUNE 2008
NATIONAL REFUGEE DAY - XENOPHOBIA
(All)

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The AFRICA TRADE CENTRE AND THE FOUNDATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICA proudly presents you with the following information that may add value to Africa's development.

NATIONAL REFUGEE DAY - XENOPHOBIA

Today - 20 June is National Refugee Day - 'celebrated' world-wide - however, throughout Africa and more-so in South Africa - we have no reason to 'celebrate' - why? ... XENOPHOBIA

Wikipedia defines xenophobia as follows: "A fear or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign people. It comes from the Greek words 尉苇谓慰蟼 (xenos), meaning "foreigner" "stranger," and 蠁蠈尾慰蟼 (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself."

South Africa is in the grips of this sad situation ..xenophobia!

As a son of Africa, born South Africa, I take this opportunity, on behalf of my home country, South Africa, the government and all our people, to sincerely apologize to the rest of Africa for the barbaric murders; rapes; assaults; looting; displacements and carnage afflicted upon our people, who are or were, not 'significantly different' from us.

There is speculation from the South African Government that these xenophobic attacks were criminally inspired - I could not agree more - however, this kind of criminal element is born out of boredom and boredom is the fruit of laziness.

Many people, from the rest of Africa, have sought refuge by infiltrating the South African market seeking employment and exploiting opportunities. Many have found employment and security as they are willing to work beyond the call of duty; others established themselves as prominent business entrepreneurs contributing to the South African economy, while others, sadly, contributed to the crime statistics.

The reality of the situation is that the South African government, in its 'quiet diplomacy' towards neighboring countries currently facing turmoil, have 'turned a blind eye' to the influx of refugees entering the 'land of milk and honey', this as a token of 'compensation' for the support received during the apartheid struggle.

The number of 'refugees' currently in South Africa is another reason for serious concern and speculation - it is estimated that the figure has exceeded 7 million - this situation should raise concern - more so when the 'refugee' is unaccounted for.

However - South Africa now faces further dilemma.

The refugees within South Africa, seeking refuge from these barbaric xenophobic attacks, are been accommodated in humanitarian aid tent shelters, in suburban areas, resulting in concern from the local residents regarding safety and security; sanitation; time frames and a host of valid 'objections' - once again, a 'softer' form of xenophobia or rejection.

In addition to this the South African 'poorest of the poor' are also raising their voice in protest with regard the services being made available to these refugees, whilst they, 'the poorest of the poor' have yet to receive the promises made to them.

It all reflects on the lack of service delivery. This situation will no doubt impact profoundly on South Africa.

The South African Government will have to show remorse for the actions of those perpetrators, take control of the situation and communicate openly with the people of Africa.

All of Africa needs to accept responsibility for the situation - An injury to one is an injury to all!

Let's strive for harmony. Let's communicate, integrate and participate.

God Bless Africa!

Take care
Peter

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THIS MESSAGE IS AVAILABLE IN FRENCH AND PORTUGUESE

X镹OPHOBIE
Afrique du Sud
(FRENCH) XENOFOBIA
羏rica do Sul
(PORTUGUESE)

TRANSLATION SERVICE COURTESY
LANGUAGE INC

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COMMENTS RECEIVED

23 June 2008
Thanx Peter for the positive contribution you are making to our society, I mean Africa at large.
I am one of the foreigners, AN AFRICAN, who think that we mustn't limited by geograhical location, we are in one village, Africa and i don't see any reason of fighting coz we share the same origin.
Iam working here in South Africa and iam happy coz you have been sending me your articles since i was still at college.
Thank you again GOD BLESS YOU
Tino
Tino DUBE
University of Zimbabwe
SOUTH AFRICA/ZIMBABWE

23 June 2008
Brilliant, Peter, you are on target all the way.
Kind regards and applause
Jean
Jean McCALLUM
Targeted Information Management Services (TIMS)
SOUTH AFRICA

23 June 2008
Thank you for the information regarding Xenophobia.
Sadly, it is present everywhere.
I will be passing your message along.
Dawn LANCELLOTTI
Rhode Island College
USA

21 June 2008
Peter,
Thank you for your mail. I am happy that at least at last one person from South Africa has said something reasonable about this XENOPHOBIA. I am a Nigerian and you know what that means as regards our (Nigerian) relationship with South Africa as far as Xenophobia is concern.
Needless for me to say that I am saddned by the recent killing of nigerians in your country.
Peter if anything good is to come out of Africa Nigeria and South Africa must be involved.
Its a high time was should be thinking about exploring areas of cooperation between the two countries so as to better the lots of Africans all over the world, But here we are killing our brothers and sisters in the name of XENOPHOBIA.
WHAT IS XENOPHOBIA FOR GOD's SAKE.
I love what you are doing. keep it up and may God bless Africa.
Cheers!
ETEBOM
Mathias Donatus IDIONG
Dim Resources Limited
NIGERIA

21 June 2008
THANKS FOR THE TRUTH
A Olumuyiwa LATUNDE (Prince)
Emilaug Energy Limited
NIGERIA

20 June 2008
Dear Peter,
Thank you so much for the article, it has been really valuable to me and It has really taught me a lot about "XENOPHOBIA"
Best Regards,
Mbali
Mbali RATLOU
Phapho Catering and Projects cc
SOUTH AFRICA

20 June 2008
Thanks Peter
I appreciate this very much!
kind regards
Berna
Berna THOM
Hot Stuff Graphics
SOUTH AFRICA

20 June 2008
Thank you very much Peter for this!
Attached is a letter that I have recently sent to Daily Sun and Business Day raising my concerns but unfortunately it was never published.
SEE: SOUTH AFRICA FOR ALL
Thank you for making this contribution.
Leeu APHANE
South African Department of Agriculture
SOUTH AFRICA

20 June 2008
Dear Peter,
Thank you for this message. I think most of us agree.
May I draw your attention to certain issues which are not generally known.
As the map offices of most of the major state or parastatal organisations have been closed down and the skilled people layed off over the last couple of years, the private sector now renders the essential services of mapping and macro-planning. Where I have worked with some of these private sector experts, the following has been brought to my attention: With the assitence of international satellite imagery organisations, close corellations have been developed between data collected through GPS based counts on the ground across South Africa on the one hand and time series of satellite images on the other hand. From these highly accurate time series it has emerged that:
    xx Since the middle 1980's huge numbers of people have gained access to South Africa from other parts of Africa, as well as India, pakistan and the Middle East;
    xx Approximately 37 percent of all people in South Africa cannot be accounted for in the statristics used by the South African government;
    xx The official population figure utilised by the RSA government is 47 million people. If the figure should be corrected on account of the real population situation, a number of biometricians from the UN, FAO and private sector organisations it would approach 70 million people.
    xx For every person dying of AIDS related disease, two new replacemtns enter the country.
    xx South Africa's rivers are now regarded as among the top most polluted rivers in the world.
When I visit some of the offices of land use and development planners they agree that they work on a figure close to 70 million people. That is held as one of the reasons that the present supply of electricity, water and other basic services cannot cope with the demand. This is apart from the gross mismanagement of revenue income by most of the government organisations.
It has been calculated that the top approximately 200 000 officials closely connected to the ruling party in RSA, who have in recent years been off-loaded on the public system, receive an estimated R100 000 000 000 (one hundred billion rand) in remuneration and perks per year. This figure is borne out by financiers of luxury vehicles, houses and other forms of credit based purchases. It is a fact that very little value from this remuneration pay-out ever makes any positive difference to the lives of the poor that these officials are supposed to serve. If that amount of funding could have been utilised instead for the orderly provision of much needed services to the poor people, the entire situation in South Africa could have been much better.
It is therefore sad to realise that the tragedy unfolding in the country, including the projected food shortages that can be expected with the governemt's negative impact on commercial farming, could have been averted if the general attitude among the ruling government's members could have been changed.
Where I am closely involved in formulating food security policies on behalf of a number of governments of Africa, outside RSA, I concentrate on bringing the message home that they have to act responsibly and with accountability towards the people of their countries.
I hope these statements act as thought provoking stimuli to you. Where you deal with similar controversial subjects, please let me know, because it can only help me in improving on the current large-scale project planning projections.
Kind regards
Theunis DUVENHAGE
Consultant
SOUTH AFRICA

20 June 2008
Dear Peter,
Twilight Children NPO in Hillbrow have been aiding the Police at Jeppe, Cleveland and Hillbrow with blankets and food.
We spotted the problem a while back as we do help unfortunate foreigner children and parents.
Thank you
Cathy
Cathy MACDONALD (Fund Raiser)
Twilight Children NPO
SOUTH AFRICA

20 June 2008
God Bless you too Peter,
I was deeply touched by what happened to foreigners aswell in South Africa.
Thanks for this email, I,m sure it goes very far.
Cheers
George TOWOBOLA
Fujitsu Services (UK) South African Branch
SOUTH AFRICA

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