Image: Instagram/Mona Monyane
Actress Mona Monyane has opened up about xenophobic slurs hurled at her during her younger years when her schoolmates found out she was born in Zimbabwe.
Mona is a South African citizen, born of two South African parents who were exiled in Zimbabwe at the time of her birth.
She took to Twitter recently to describe some of the horrible experiences she’s endured at the hands of xenophobic South Africans
“I was born in Zimbabwe because my parents were activists and they were exiled. When kids at school found out, they legit called me “lekwerekwere”, made fun of my skin tone, the way I spoke English well,” Mona said.Mona said while she is definitely a citizen of Mzansi, she was still seen as “a foreigner” by some people.
“South Africans carry a lot of toxicity, hatred and judgment. I am not ashamed of who I am. My parents fought for our freedom. I carry my identity with great pride.”
The actress hoped to illuminate her observations that a lot of “South Africans are very intolerant of black people who aren’t the ‘same kind of black as them’.”
Mona also talked about the fact that it took more than two years before she was a smart ID holder, and reasoned it was because she was born in a different country.
“I do have South African citizenship, just to clarify. I was not able to get my smart card ID at the same time as SA-born citizens for some reason. They said it was because I was born in a different country.”