Residents map out a way to live together in harmony

Community members took a walk through Yeoville to identify areas that could fuel violence

May 6, 2009– “If a person belongs to a different tribe or party, or if they express a different opinion, it doesn’t mean that they are your enemy. We need to understand one another,” said one of the participants at a community conversations workshop in Yeoville, Johannesburg today.

This conversation was the second held in Yeoville, a multicultural suburb where many immigrants live. It forms part of a series of conversations about social cohesion that will be convened around South Africa by the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The facilitators and community members took up issues that were raised at the previous conversation and explored them further.

The objective of today’s event was to promote social cohesion within the community.

Mothomang Diaho, head of the Dialogue Programme at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, welcomed the visitors and facilitators and thanked the Yeoville community for hosting the workshop.

“The programme, to promote social cohesion through dialogue is two years in the making,” she said, noting that five provinces around the country will be participating in similar conversations in the coming months.

She urged everyone to participate, saying, “A conversation is not about someone standing in front and telling you what to do. The richness of conversation lies in everyone in the room engaging with each other.”

And they did just that.

After the facilitators introduced each other to the community, creating an open and relaxed atmosphere, participants were asked to divide into small communities of three and introduce themselves, saying where they were from and what their hobbies were. People were then invited to express their feelings after the exercise. One participant remarked on the diversity of the people present, saying, “I feel I now know the whole of South Africa. I am at home.”

The Historical Timeline: Understanding Our Past to Deal with the Present

The first exercise that the participants engaged in was the creation of a historical timeline. This tool in the CCE methodology intends for community members to recount significant events in history, not only here in South Africa but also in the rest of the continent. In groups, they were asked to identify those significant events in their lives and in the lives of their communities over the last 25 years, and to explore how those events led to making South Africa an attractive destination for migrant communities. In doing this exercise, participants were requested to also identify what factors in others countries might have contributed to people leaving their own countries to settle here. The aim of this exercise was to share events and their meaning with one another – to look at the past in order to understand our current problems and find solutions together. In so doing, the community gets to understand the “pull” and “push” factors that bring them all together. In the words of one of the participants, “we are all migrants here”.

Participants were also asked to discuss how the presence of immigrants and refugees shaped the changes that had taken place in their communities, and how these significant events had shaped their communities’ capacities to resolve challenges.

There was much spirited debate among the groups in determining which events on the continent were most significant. The one date in South Africa’s history that everyone agreed on and was first on most timelines was 1990 – Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. It was repeated a number of times in the feedback from the groups that Madiba’s release gave people hope and a feeling of empowerment.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was also marked as a hugely significant event. In the aftermath of the TRC there was a new focus on rebuilding the country and moving forward into a prosperous future.

The groups discussed conflict in the rest of the continent and how it led to political refugees fleeing to South Africa. It was also mentioned that the economic restructuring programmes in countries like Zambia might have brought poverty-stricken economic refugees into the country.

In response to the historical timeline exercise, participants shared some interesting insights.

One participant said, “We came to this county to get a better life, so let’s contribute to this place that we have chosen to call home and transfer the skills that we have brought from our different countries. Let’s work together and empower each other so that we can make South Africa the America of Africa.”

Another community member noted, “We need to understand that people have made this country home, they have settled and are not going anywhere. The South African Constitution belongs to all that live here.”

Everyone applauded the participant who said, “The journey of a thousand steps begins with one step, so I encourage you my fellow people to take the first step towards finding a solution to these xenophobic attacks. Africa is the most beautiful continent in the world. We have a richness of resources that other continents don’t have, yet we still suffer, and I blame this on our leadership. We need better leaders. We need to find ways to make sure that xenophobic attacks don’t happen again. Africa is one; the solution therefore must come from all of us. We need to address what is happening to all of our countries”.

Engaging Youth in Conversation

Another popular suggestion was that “these workshops should be done in schools because we are raising kids who are aware of these differences in society and they are adopting this mentality. We have a lot of marriages between South Africans and Nigerians or South Africans and Zimbabweans so in 20 years’ time we won’t have people who will be truly South African. So we need to educate our children about the importance of loving one another regardless of what nationality or tribe you may come from.”

The Transect Walk – Mapping our Community

The workshop participants were then taken on a “transect walk” around Yeoville by the participants during which they identified activities that promote social cohesion and activities that do the opposite. Afterwards, they had to draw a map of their walk identifying the areas in which these activities take place, and discuss what they viewed as the five main challenges facing the community and how they could fuel violence. They also had to determine what opportunities exist for strengthening the community’s capacity to overcome the challenges. 

The biggest challenges that were identified are the competition for resources, unemployment and poverty and. Poverty was identified as the major factor that could fuel violence. On the positive side, however, it was noted that the schools and churches around Yeoville are doing a lot to promote social cohesion. Particular mention was made of a crèche were children of different nationalities were playing together – “a beautiful sight”.

The responses to the workshop were overwhelmingly positive.

Gugu Shelembe from the Thukela Amajuba Mzinyathi Christian Council (TAMCC) said, “Today’s conversation was great. I feel that we had a breakthrough. It was my first time facilitating a community conversation and I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. I am over the moon. The community of Yeoville contributed a lot to today’s dialogue and I feel that we have paved the way forward in terms of dialoguing. The transect walk was practical and a great experience. I am grateful for the exposure that I have received from this and I will spread the message in my community.”

Magan Dahir from the South African Somalian Association said, “Today’s conversation was perfect. The whole concept of conversation is to generate energy, for the participants to engage and debate issues – it’s not for us to impose our views on them and today we got that, the community of Yeoville was alive with energy. I love the CCE methodology [a UN-developed capacity-building process] because it helps generate perceptions that are hidden in communities.”

Mama Patricia Johnson of the Mother Johnson Foundation, who was honoured at the workshop today on her 84th birthday, said, “I am really impressed because this dialogue serves as a reminder that no one should ever have to walk alone when your fellow brothers and sisters are around. We need to be united and love and respect one another no matter which country we come from.

“I think these dialogues are really important, especially for us past comrades who fought for the liberation of this country. I went into exile during the apartheid regime and when I came back there were so many homeless children and I asked myself what had happened, so I opened a home for all children from all different nationalities because I had been helped by the government of Botswana,” she continued.

In closing at the community conversation, Bea Abrahams, a member of the dialogue’s implementing team, thanked everyone for coming and sharing their insights and experiences.

Mothomang added that the Nelson Mandela Foundation will make sure that the issues raised at community conversations are taken to the appropriate authorities through other fora that the Foundation has initiated to engage partners who strive to promote Social Cohesion in our communities.

“We would like to see this process continuing, not only in South Africa, but we would like to explore continuing this work in other countries as has been suggested here.” she said.

The next community conversations will be held on May 16, 2009 at Khayelitsha, Site B in the Western Cape, on May 23, 2009 simultaneously at Cato Manor in KwaZulu-Natal and in Port Elizabeth (exact location to be confirmed), on June 6, 2009 at Leandra in Mpumalanga, and on June 20, 2009 at Atteridgeville in Gauteng.