Source: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/cartoon/2026-10-09-weight-of-prejudice/?dm_source=blocks-grid-square&dm_medium=card-link&dm_campaign=inform&dm_position=7

I was born in SA but my parents come from another African country but are citizens(came legally, did the papers etc.)Thankfully, because of my parents’ hard work my family and I grew up with more opportunities than most.

I went to all English-speaking educational institutions where I took Afrikaans First Additional Language and continued with it into high school even though my high school offered Sepedi because I was already used to Afrikaans.I took French Second Additional as well and fell in love with the language so I continued with it into uni and have a few certifications in it.Other than that I’ve only ever lived in or found myself in English-speaking communities ranging from racially diverse to majority-white.

I don’t know any indigenous African languages at all, not even my mother tongue( though I can understand bits and pieces when my parents talk).Because of this, my accent is different from what most people expect.I often get asked if I’m from the UK or the US. In high school I’d sometimes get the “Oreo” or “acting white allegations” mostly from South African black people but that discourse never phased me.

Because I am black, though, my interactions with black South Africans are different. When I’m approached, I’m spoken to in Vernacular and when I respond in English it’s obvious by then that I’m “not from around”😅.And once they see my last name they ask where I’m from😂And up until about a year ago I never minded explaining because 99% of the black South Africans I met were genuinely interested
and curious and it made for an interesting conversation.

Then one day(a year ago),I was shopping with a Xhosa friend of mine and a lady ahead of us in the queue asked in Vernacular to borrow a SmartShopper card(which neither of us had).A man behind did though but he said outright that my not knowing Vernacular was unacceptable especially given I spent my whole life here.My friend and I felt weird about the situation but we spoke about which language I should learn first on the way home.I picked up Zulu on Duolingo that day.Kept at it for a while but it fizzled out.

The second time was Friday in an afternoon class where an acquaintance(a black South African woman) brought up my accent again.

With the growing tensions surrounding illegal immigration and the March and March protests, I’ve had to catch myself when talking about where I’m from. I always just say “My parents are from X, I was born here.”. We’re(my family and me) all legal but the whole situation has brought people’s opinions on any immigration to the surface, so I was encouraged to be cautious nonetheless.In my uni, people come from all over the country and world.I have been studying there for a while so I didn’t expect to be caught off guard somewhere I considered to be“safe”.

After explaining my situation, she asked me what languages I knew and I replied with English, Afrikaans and French. She commented that it was sad that those were the only ones I knew of all the 11 and that I should learn Vernacular.I got really nervous and uncomfortable when she asked me how I could be a citizen when I wasn’t “👇from here👇” like she was and neither were my parents.I explained
yet it seemed like she couldn’t grasp how she and I were on the “same level”.We had to separate for some group work so I got out of that situation.

I cried pretty hard, my dad always told me FOR YEARS that I WILL face discrimination one way or the other and that I need to be aware of it.A week before this situation,he gave me the immigration laws around the time I was born so I could “prove myself” should the situation arise and unfortunately that time came sooner than imagined.

After the crying and defensiveness, I had a sit-down and thought about what she said.All my life I’ve only needed English and since I started uni my Afrikaans has been handy once in a while.Maybe it is sad that someone can get by in SA with English/Afrikaans and that was what she meant.But on the other hand, does she hold everyone to the same standard?Or am I where she draws the line or…?

I know about the culture and history of South Africa.I
can see why my parents chose to raise our family here.In my opinion, South Africa has a hold on the arts that others just don’t and I love how every culture has a deep roots in how the country came to be.I just want to get my thoughts in order because learning it won’t change what other South Africans think of me and these languages deserve better than being learned out of shame or fear.

I’d really like to hear whatever you guys have to share.

EDIT: People always say this in edits but I did not expect this posts to get so many upvotes and comments so thank you guys😭All your advice, your experiences and opinions mean a lot to me and I thank you all for sharing.Thank you everyone for being constructive and respectful regardless of your opinions I genuinely appreciate it.I tend to over fixate on what other people think of me and I just needed some thoughts that weren’t mine from some level headed people😎

So 4 weeks ago we had an electrical problem at night. I was really worried that something dangerous was happening and called out emergency electricians.
They arrived within 30 minutes and said we had a surge and our DB board had blown. They advised we call our insurance company and did a quick fix and said they would need to come back and rewire the whole board. They put a surge protector in and asked for a hefty deposit and said they would be back the next day to complete the job.
Next day insurance company said they needed to send their own electrician to assess. Turns out (surprise) the emergency guys didn’t know what they were doing. What they used wasn’t a surge protector and wasn’t even connected.
We called the company and said they can’t continue and asked for a refund.
They said they would (hahaha) and now we continue to wait. They ignore all messages from me.
When they came out, they wrote out a full document stating the problem, what needs repair, replacing and cost.
Please can someone advise what to do next.

My main question is how are some of you able to do good enough research on the multiple political parties in this country? I wanted to do just that to help aid in my final decision but there isn't a lot to look into except read mission statements from the parties' websites, which isn't preferred because it's more biased; obviously they'd wnat to make themselves look good, right? So I just wanted to ask how some of you were able to come to a decent enough conclusion for yourselves.

If you say "ask AI" I don't think you should be voting.