There have been no reports of Jamaicans living in South Africa being affected by violent anti-migrant protests in the country, according to a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. At least four foreign nationals have been killed in the wave of xenophobic attacks primarily targeting migrants from other African countries over the last several months. But while the growing security fears have prompted tens of thousands of foreigners, including from Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Liberia, to flee, Jamaicans have been for the most part unaffected by the unrest in the ‘Rainbow Nation’, a representative of Jamaica’s foreign affairs ministry told Observer Online.
The representative indicated that based on its outreach to Jamaicans in South Africa -- for which there is no official census figure, but believed to be relatively small – the community did not have much concern, as the aggression has not been directed towards them. "Asked about the possibility of Jamaicans being mistaken for members of targeted groups, the ministry commented: “If a Jamaican has even been mistaken for a national [of] the countries [affected] then once they speak, and they are recognised as Jamaican, there is a positive reaction.” Still, one Jamaican who visited South Africa in June said the tension there was palpable. “I was waiting for my bus from Ladybrand in South Africa back to Johannesburg, and people were waiting there.
I feel like I felt the tension cut through the air,” Kadeem Leslie told the Observer. Leslie, who is an entrepreneur and the author of two books, The Full Student and Full Money, was in South Africa to kick off a tour of the continent. Violent protests swept South Africa for some time before his arrival, fuelled by anti-immigrant sentiment and prompting an exodus of African migrants from the country, which has long been affected by illegal migration.
Alongside the protests came demands that undocumented migrants leave the country by an unofficial June 30 deadline. Having road tripped through the country days before the deadline, with a foreign license plate, Leslie said he was not immune to the profiling directed toward other Africans. “Some people are giving you the look… you can feel it.
It's hard to describe,” he said, speaking to the Observer from Botswana where he had gone after hi…
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