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Picture: 123RF/ZEF ART
Picture: 123RF/ZEF ART

The government’s response to the Afrikaner “cultural accord” proposal is a difficult call (“Not many sympathise, but listening to Afrikaner group won’t hurt”, April 25).

We are a nation of origin clans, whether Afrikaans, Khoi, San, Xhosa, Zulu, Scots, Tswana, Sotho, English, Pedi or anything else. There should indeed be protected spaces for each major language group to express themselves, as recognised within SA.

They should not be subjected to political pressure or prejudice. But to ask for land and special privileges is a bridge too far. Develop your spaces and make them tourist and heritage centres, open to all. Retreating into a laager mentality is exactly the wrong approach here and will earn no-one any credits.

For us to survive as a nation, we need to be as accepting of each other’s origin cultures as possible, while also accepting that we are all one tribe now, beautiful, powerful and resilient in our diversity, as expressed through each of our heritage centres.

For then we can take our rightful place on the world stage, and not just when our rugby team plays!

Bevan Jones

Via BusinessLIVE

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