Manamela: Maxeke would be heartbroken by attacks on African migrants

By Lebone Rodah Mosima

Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela has warned against violence targeting African migrants, saying Charlotte Maxeke’s legacy demanded unity, solidarity and education that lifted others.

Delivering the keynote address at the 125th Graduation Anniversary Memorial Lecture of Charlotte Makgomo Mannya-Maxeke, Manamela said Maxeke’s Pan-African outlook remained urgent in a country where poor communities were sometimes turned against one another.

“Charlotte Maxeke carried that conviction across an ocean and planted it in our soil. Which is why it would break her heart to see the poor turned against the poor,” Manamela said.

“To see the African raise a hand against the African who crossed a border in search of the very dignity we crossed oceans to claim. The reactionary violence that flares in our streets — neighbour against neighbour, the desperate against the slightly-less-desperate — is not the anger of a people finding their strength. It