22 APRIL 2015

The Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum reminds residents and visitors of the horrific living conditions that the migrant labour system imposed. Our museum is painfully aware of how apartheid sought to sow divisions and hatred amongst our people. As a community museum we therefore unreservedly condemn the spate of indiscriminate violence against members of our communities.

The Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum believes that the entire African continent helped in liberating South Africa from apartheid. The brutality against fellow Africans continues to make it difficult for museum such as ours to fight the legacy that apartheid and segregation has left in our communities. This is a shame on us not only as a community museum that represents the migrant workers history of South Africa but is a shame on every South African.

We want to reiterate what we said in 2008 when these xenophobic attacks affected our community in Lwandle directly. We wish to declare our determination to work towards peace and tolerance in our communities. As a community museum we will continue to raise awareness and to teach our young people about the importance of showing compassion and humanity to our fellow Africans. We will continue to strive to build critical spaces for dialogue in the interests of defining post-apartheid communities. We owe it to our constituencies and their memories of apartheid to oppose all forms of displacement of communities and people through violent means. Let us teach the young that we are all Africans.