Refugees of superior fibre

by Letters Editor · July 29, 2009

I applaud your editorial �South Africa�s great failure� of July 1 regarding our lack of charity towards those people from other countries seeking a better life in South Africa. What is often overlooked is that, like our own ancestors who fled oppression and poverty in their mother-countries, seeking a better life for themselves and their children, these refugees are for the most part of a superior moral fibre.

It must be so; it takes courage to leave all you know, your nearest and dearest, to venture into the unknown of a strange country which you can only hope will provide a better opportunity for you to improve your lot.

These people could well be the cream of their countries. Those who stayed behind may not have had this type of courage, and their countries become the poorer for the loss. These are the sort of people we should be welcoming; they would improve our national productive effort if allowed to do so.

It has been said in government quite recently that Zimbabwean refugees in general have been found to have a better standard of education than the average South African. We should use the productive example of these refugees to motivate ourselves and our fellow South Africans to better efficiency and productivity, rather than adopt the �dog in a manger� attitude which is evidenced by our claiming that they are �taking our jobs�, and punishing them for their courage and ability.

It is well known by business management that competition raises standards. The sense of entitlement which many South Africans have is not doing our country any good; quite the reverse.

I do not need to repeat the examples you have given regarding the biblical attitude to the stranger in our midst. I would urge my fellow Christians to get rid of the �I�m all right, Jack� attitude and share what we have with others. Who, after all, made the national boundaries we love to point to when it suits us!

Tom Drake, Alberton