Deputy Speaker,
We begin our contribution today by mourning the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a courageous Christian voice silenced while preaching truth on a university campus. Even in death, his witness has brought the gospel to millions across the world, including us in South Africa.
As we commemorate Heritage Day, with Kirk’s memory on our minds, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) urges South Africans to reflect on that moral heritage that once defined us as a nation of kind, caring, and hospitable people. Today, that legacy is, unfortunately, under threat.
Many South Africans are sadly becoming cruel and hard. A recent incident in Gauteng saw a pregnant foreign woman denied medical care; she collapsed on the pavement, bleeding, while bystanders took photos and laughed. This is not the South Africa envisioned by our Constitution; it is a heart-breaking snapshot of callousness that we must stand against.
Deputy Speaker, the ACDP calls on all South Africans to let this Heritage Day be a turning point. Let us reclaim our moral heritage; let us all choose kindness over cruelty and hospitality over hostility. Our nation’s healing and future prosperity depends on it.
During his Heritage Day address, President Ramaphosa reminded our nation that xenophobia is inconsistent with our values and that ubuntu must extend even to those from other countries. Yet, the reality on our streets tells a different story. For many years now, many tourists would speak of South African friendliness, but often it is not South Africans who offer that welcome. Before cellphones, children were raised to help strangers; if someone had a flat tyre, neighbours would rush to assist. That was the culture of soft hearts, our true heritage.
If more than 70% of South Africans profess to be Christian, as they say, then pastors must stir the consciences of people around them with the truth as Charlie Kirk did. Scripture is clear: Deuteronomy calls us to care for those far from home; Leviticus commands us to love the foreigner as ourselves and treat them with dignity, respect and fairness.
We are blessed by Zimbabweans, Congolese, Mozambicans, Somalians, Malawians, etc. — people who enrich our economy, our churches, our communities. Yet the media headlines focus on the few tsotsis, smearing entire nations and stirring up xenophobia. This is unjust and not a true reflection of what is happening in our country.
