Sunday, October 19, 2008


“X RUNNIN OUTA THE LABS… LAMA ZIZIMBANA AYIVALILE LENDAWO NGEKWAPA.”

Loosely translated this means “X is running out of the labs, these Zimbos have closed this place up with their stinking armpits”. This is a facebook status belonging to a Rhodes first year. The rest of our first years may not necessarily have statuses such as this one, but most of them are just as xenophobic.

On arrival at Rhodes University, one of the things I loved the most about the varsity was its versatility in all forms. As a curious minded person, I am highly appreciative of opportunities to meet people from different walks of life. Rhodes offers this, there are students from all over the world here, especially from other parts of Africa. Zimbabwean students form part of the majority of foreign students. It was great too see that one’s home country has no significance with regard to how one is treated at Rhodes and which friends he/she has.


However, encounters with other first years revealed that not all of us are conscious enough to not be ignorant and intolerent. There lies a lot of ignorance in the mindsets of most of us first years, not all of us, but most of us. When referring to foreign students, especially Zimbabweans, I would often hear the following comments from my fellow first years:

“Oh shame, the Zimbos here don’t stink that much, I can tolerate that.”
“Wow, she’s actually quite classy.”
“He’s so cute hey; you’d never say he’s not South African.”

Someone once said: “No wonder you Rhodes girls go for them, the ones here are actually decent.”

Rather sad really, if not because of the mentality itself, sad because such mentality goes to show how ignorant we are, and how much we lack critical thinking and independent minds. This mentality is also sad because it shows what hypocrites we are. South African youth are very quick to demand fair treatment when they visit other countries and yet this is our attitude towards our fellow Africans. It is very arrogant of us to think that we are in a position to decide whether or not we can tolerate certain foreigners – what is it about foreigners that is so intolerable in the first place that we have to adapt to tolerating them? Put simply, it is extremely stupid of us to expect that a foreigner stink, be without class, be ugly and indecent. What do we define as decent anyway? Who are we to say whether or not a person is decent or not, solely based on their nationality?


Such is our mentality as first years. However, in defence of the first year; it is of no surprise that we are so ignorant and hypocritical in our thinking. Our parents refer to foreigners as amakwere-kwere” and yet they’re up in arms when they are referred to as “kaffirs” or “boers”. The pro human rights nation of South Africa with its world renowned constitution condemns xenophobic attacks in the country. Yet the very same South Africa’s legislation is rather xenophobic in my opinion. Getting a job as a foreigner is a mission in South Africa. Should a foreigner be accepted for a job, he/she must get the job on grounds that there is absolutely no South African that applied that can get the job – this is regardless of the fact that the foreigner may be more qualified than the South African. I’m sure our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana Zuma, wouldn’t be too chuffed if the same were to happen to her child.


Defences and excuses aside, it is sad to see that even though so many of us boast all this knowledge we have of the world and its politics, we fail to question the ideologies and stereotypes present in our daily lives. Instead we support these, both consciously and subconsciously. When one thinks independently and critically; it is obvious that the fact that I am a South African does not mean that I am classy, decent, beautiful, and smell good. Such idiotic and unfounded thinking from the same people who are outraged by Apartheid!

3 comments:

Lucy said...

A devastating realisation

I was truly devastated to read this piece on xenophobia. Perhpas I am extremely naive or unaware but I was of the impression that xenophobia was not a problem at Rhodes. Your blog has shown me that this is in fact not the case. It is inexcusable really. What is our country coming to when what they call "the top two percent" of our citizens can possess such a warped and destructive mentality? Our country should above all others should know what acceptance means. Our peaceful transition from a once disgusting regime into one of democracy has been such a blessing and now it seems that our people are taking it for granted. How easily we forget what pain feels like when we are living in peace. I hope that if Rhodes gives these narrow minded students nothing else, they can at least leave with the realisation that all those amongst are humans, one people that need to come together to make this world a better place. Thank you for making me aware of this problem. Hopefully such words as yours can help to make people aware of their ignorance. Lucy from 4burstbubbles.

moving mountains said...

It is really a Shame on us

I’m with you on this one Maryjane, South Africa must learn to have some sense of hospitality on the people come from African countries, and the truth must be told to those who pretend to be Anti-Xenophobic while still calling a Zimbabwean or Nigerian amakwere-kwere. Most South Africans not only just Rhodes first year’s students are xenophobic and ignorant not that I exclude myself because I am also a South African. The way we treat our fellow Africans it’s like South Africa has a continent of its own outside Africa which makes us to be special and better than the other African countries. We tend to judge and denigrate black foreigners because they come from Africa, while admiring those ones from the western countries. Here at Rhodes the issue of Xenophobia is not really dealt with in public because people hide their true colours under carpet, they pretend to be innocent saints and when they are asked about how they feel about foreigners… the only respond you get is that they don’t have anything against them while they calling them by names.

Anonymous said...

Not all Doom & Gloom

In the light of the opinion post and the following comments on the post, I have a couple of issues to point out before we all jump on the 'Rhodents are hypocritical and xenophobic' band wagon.

Yes, there are those around that aren't particularly friendly towards our fellow international students (I too saw that facebook status once) but there are some statements that shouldn't be assumed and recklessly thrown out there for people to consume. one of them is the one about South African students demanding respect when they are outside of this country, how accurate is that information? Could we please have some solid facts on it. And the one about how 'foreigners' only get jobs if no South Africans apply for it, that seems to be a careless assumption as well. so please let's not base our opinions on groundless and (dare I say it) ignorant views.
Students, especially at Rhodes are a representation of the youth of this country and, like the rest of the country, have different issues, including Xenophobia, to deal with. But-as people have failed to realise-unlike most of the country, Rhodes students were standing up against the turmoil that was caused by the Xenophobic attacks earlier in the year, doesn't that count for something? I definitely think it does.
Furthermore, there are those individuals that have their very much unfortunate and regrettable personal veiws on international students, which I do not believe represents the overall view of the South African students. So, let's point the guns (for lack of a more effective word) at those INDIVIDUALS, not all of the students as a whole, there are those, like me! Who find these statements very offending and unfair on the majority, so please people, yes, xenophobia is unacceptable and backward BUT it is a reality and we need to confront people that promote it with flawless arguments and not ridiculous statements that would only prove further ignorance within the Rhodent ranks. More Zen Less Phobia!