KHANYISA DUNJWA | Perhaps the real debate is not about immigration but the state of SA’s democracy

SA’s immigration debate is no longer only about undocumented migrants, border management or xenophobia. It has become the mirror reflecting something much deeper: a growing disconnect between the aspirations of our constitutional democracy and the lived realities of many South Africans. As citizens call for stricter immigration enforcement while others defend the constitutional rights of foreign nationals, the national conversation has become increasingly polarised.

We are repeatedly asked whether South Africans are becoming xenophobic. It is an important question. But perhaps it is no longer the most important one.

The more urgent question is whether South Africans still recognise themselves in the constitutional project we embarked upon more than three decades ago. In May 2008, I was not in SA. I was attending a General Assembly of the African Youth and Adolescents Network on Population and Development (AfriYAN) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, when news broke that foreign nationals were being attacked back home.

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I remember standing in airports watching international news. Homes were burning. Families were fleeing.

Africans were attacking fellow Africans. I was travelling with a South African passport. On its cover, in French, were the wordsAfrique du Sud.

Immigration officials would read those words, pause, and look at me. Their expressions conveyed concern, disbelief and disappointment. For the first time, I realised that a passport carries more than citizenship. It carries the reputation of a nation.

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