This policy brief is based on the outcomes of the Expert Roundtable on Social Justice, Economic Inclusion and Immigration: A project of the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice, Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University.
Background
The roundtable discussion hosted by Professor Thuli Madonsela, Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University on 18 March 2022, brought together more than twenty experts to deliberate on issues relating to social justice, economic inclusion, and immigration.
The experts, who ranged from academics, legal scholars, government officials, international dignitaries, activists, and NGO representatives were invited to scrutinise aspects of South Africa’s immigration policy and the plight of foreign workers through a social justice lens anchored in human rights.
The discussion was part of the Law Trust Chair’s mission to promote social justice scholarship, consciousness and collaboration to accelerate social justice reform in academia and society. The event formed part of a suite of activities and projects under the Chair, aimed at mobilising the nation and the global community around a Musa Plan for Social Justice (the M-Plan), a Marshall Plan like Integrated Programme of Action for accelerated social justice advancement to end poverty and break the back of structural inequality by 2030 in pursuit of the sustainable development goals and National Development Plan objectives.
The broad objective of the roundtable was to explore the social justice implications of the historic and recent resurgence of discontent toward foreigners in South Africa, immigration policy, utilisation of business opportunities and employment in the formal and informal sectors of the economy. The secondary objective was to explore the nature of xenophobia through a social justice lens anchored in human rights.
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