I write this as someone who calls South Africa home, whether by birth or by journey, and I remind us that the children of these nationals also call this home, they are growing up here, learning here, dreaming here, just like any other child. We live side by side, yet remain divided by fear, frustration, and misunderstanding, and I ask myself, is this the South Africa we have been fighting for.

As a citizen, I feel the weight of unemployment, rising crime, and systems that often seem to fail us, it is painful to struggle and not see clear solutions, it is painful to feel left behind. But directing this pain toward foreign nationals does not heal our communities, it deepens the wounds, it turns neighbour against neighbour, and it breaks what little unity we have left. We have seen how this plays out, in outbreaks of violence where shops are looted and livelihoods destroyed, in moments when people are targeted simply for how they speak or where they come from, these actions harm innocent people and fracture the very communities we depend on.

There is a Trump like behaviour growing in the hearts of some South Africans, a behaviour rooted in blame, in fear, in the idea that someone else must be the cause of our suffering, but we do not hear of South Africans in other countries living in fear like this, so what are the people of South Africa so scared of, and why are we allowing that fear to turn into cruelty.

As a foreigner, I live with the fear of being blamed, targeted, or rejected, despite contributing, working, and building a life here with dignity, I did not come to take, I came to survive, to grow, and to belong, just like anyone else trying to make a life in this country.

We are not enemies, we are people shaped by the same hardships, standing on the same soil, breathing the same air, trying to build lives under difficult circumstances, our struggles are different, but they are also deeply connected.

I ask our government to act with urgency, fairness, and clarity, to protect all who live here, to address the root causes of inequality, and to prevent further cycles of violence before they repeat.

And I ask all who live in this country, citizens and migrants alike, to choose understanding over blame, unity over division, and humanity over fear, because if we continue down this path, we will lose far more than we think.

South Africa is strong because of its diversity, not in spite of it, let us not lose that truth.