ANC slams portfolio chairwoman for speaking the truth re foreigners

 MP apologises for ‘xenophobic’ remarks 

July 4 2011

National Assembly Home Affairs Committee chairwoman and ANC MP Maggie Maunye has been forced to apologise for comments she made about foreigners. It is well worth examining what she said, and then  realising that she has been smacked for telling the truth:

As reported by The Star:

* Maunye implied that foreigners coming to South Africa were
soaking up resources.

FH: Well, yes, they are

* She questioned the use of human rights laws and the constitution to accommodate foreigners. Instead, they should be turned away, as was the case in Spain. “Really, this intake, for how long are we going to continue with this as South Africans? Is it not going to affect our resources, the economy of the country? “We’ve never enjoyed our freedom as South Africans. We got it in 1994 and we had floods and floods of refugees or undocumented people in the country and we always want to pretend it’s nothing like that.”

FH: Quite correct.

* She realised her remarks might have been insensitive to the plight of many African foreigners who were legitimately in South Africa or here as a result of hardships in their own countries.

FH: Tough. If we can’t look after our own people, and we can't, we certainly can’t accommodate the rest of the continent. Spain and Italy are two examples of countries which turn away immigrants. A country is defined by its borders. We are defined by our lack of intent to manage and police ours.

PS: The poster at the back re Australia is carried by by long-time mate and diehard Lions supporter Brian Bakker.