The South African government has implemented a decision to exclude refugees and asylum seekers from the COVID19 aid plan. 

Refugees contribute to South Africa’s economy through paying tax on their income, VAT included in the cost of products and services (of which the vast majority do not claim back from SARS) as well as create employment in some cases. This proving that the presence of foreign nationals in South Africa strengthens its economy. Therefore we can conclude that this decision to exclude them from the COVID19 aid plan is not economically based. 

There are many documented foreign nations who, as a result of the corona virus, are currently unemployed and unable to provide for  their basic needs. People are starving, children are starving. Many have no family present in South Africa to ask help from.

We ask that the South African government stand in solidarity with these foreign nationals and provide them with access to the COVID19 financial aid and stop the systematic implementation of xenophobic/ afrophobic politicking.