The South African president Jacob Zuma, who is being blamed for inciting violence in the country with his anti-foreigners claims, responds to the criticism.

In his open letter, a reaction to the message by Mozambican writer Mia Couto, the leader of South Africa warns Couto against stereotyping the whole nation based on the actions of the minority.

See both messages as published by Daily Maverick.

Dear President Zuma: A letter from Mozambican writer Mia Couto (April 17)

“Mr President, the xenophobia expressed today in South Africa is not merely a barbaric and cowardly attack against “the others”. It is also aggression against South Africa itself. It is an attack against the “Rainbow Nation” which South Africans proudly proclaimed a decade or more ago. Some South Africans are staining the name of their motherland.

We remember you in Maputo, in the 1980s, from that time you spent as a political refugee in Mozambique. Often our paths crossed on Julius Nyerere Avenue and we would greet each other with the casual friendliness of neighbours. Often I imagined the fears that you must have felt, as a person persecuted by the Apartheid regime. I imagined the nightmares you must have experienced at night when you thought of the ambushes plotted against you and against your comrades in the struggle. But I don’t remember ever seeing you with a bodyguard. In fact it was we Mozambicans who acted as your bodyguards. For years we gave you more than a refuge. We offered you a house and we gave you security at the cost of our security. You cannot possibly have forgotten this generosity.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/429124-xenophobia-south-african-president-jacob-zuma-writes-open-letter.html