Cape Flats Residents Could Be Refugees If Not for One Factor
What if refugee criteria were applied fairly? Cape Flats residents might qualify—if only their skin colour were different.
The GOOD Party’s Secretary-General Brett Herron is calling out the double standards of Trump’s refugee programme.
In his view, Cape Flats residents are living in war zones, not by choice but through decades of forced removals, apartheid laws, and government neglect.
And yet, when the US considers refugee status, it’s white farmers — who haven’t had land taken — that get attention. Meanwhile, township residents face gunfire, gang rule, and constant danger. Herron says it’s racism, plain and simple.
These communities were violently removed, packed into faraway ghettos, and left with shattered systems. If the bar for refugeehood is fear of violence and land loss, they should’ve qualified years ago.
But because they’re people of colour, their trauma doesn’t count. Herron’s point isn’t that anyone deserves harm — he’s saying the ones suffering most are left out of safety. The refugee system’s meant to protect the vulnerable, yet somehow it keeps reinforcing the same old lines apartheid once drew.
You can read the entire opinion piece on the GOOD website.
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