By Marcus Moloko
The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) has added its voice to ongoing debates around migration and protests targeting undocumented immigrants.
Speaking at the party’s National Elections Strategic Retreat at KuGompo City in the Eastern Cape, PAC leader Mzwanele Nyhontso urged South Africans to approach the issue with caution and historical awareness.
Nyhontso said “no African can be a foreigner in Africa. But as we all know, those who are registered and those who came to this country legally must be in the country. What we disagree with is when you can wake up and say they must just go. You can’t do that. These are Africans. And we’ve been saying no African can be a foreigner in Africa.”
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He said that current tensions needed to be understood in the context of colonial history.
“These borders that we see today are artificial borders. We were given these borders by the Berlin Conference in 1886. These are not our borders. It can happen that your roots can be traced to Congo.”
Nyhontso also questioned why migration debates appear to focus primarily on black Africans.
“The problem with this issue today is that it only affects black people. What about white people who do not have papers to be in South Africa? What about real cartels, criminals, who are coming from abroad? What about the Israelites, who are even doing business in South Africa?”
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He reminded delegates of South Africa’s history, citing the assassination of ANC leader Chris Hani.
“By the way, Chris Hani was killed by a white immigrant. How did he get to South Africa? Nobody asked him his ID. No African can be a foreigner in Africa. And no thugs can go out there and call us and tell us that is what you must do.”
Nyhontso’s comments come amid a wave of marches across Gauteng and other provinces under the banner “Mabahambe” (“they must go”), where organisers have demanded that undocumented immigrants leave South Africa.
