Munier was once called a “Paki” by a British guy.
It was a bit confusing because Munier is South African, with Muslim Cape Malay and Indian roots.
For a nation that once reigned over a global empire, some Brits are not very good at geography, thought Munier.
It was only later that he discovered “Paki” is defined as a derogatory word for a “person from Pakistan or South Asia by birth or descent, especially one living in Britain”.
That’s Pommie racism for you, spiced up with a bit of Islamophobia.
Racism is a lot like real estate, isn’t it? It’s all about location, location, location.
The words “Paki” and “coloured” are harmless in SA, but over in the UK and USA it’s the quickest way to start a fight.
It seems times have changed up in England with the big news last weekend that the new mayor of London is Sadiq Khan, a Muslim son of Pakistani immigrants.
That’s right - the leader of one of the most powerful European and Western capitals is... a “Paki”.
For a city that was gripped by extremist terror after the train station suicide bombings of July 2005, this is a victory for tolerance over fear.
Bear in mind this is also in the wake of devastating terror attacks in two other European capitals - Paris and Brussels.
Well done to the 1.3 million Londoners who voted for Sadiq, and chose to embrace a Muslim candidate, rather than judge him as a member of a religion of terrorists, as his political rivals did.
It was nasty the way his Conservative party opponents, including prime minister David Cameron, tried to paint Sadiq as an ISIS supporter, anti-Semite and homophobe.
In the end, the voters saw through the cheap smear campaign.
Rather than judge him on stereotypes, they liked his ideas for affordable housing, combating gang violence and freezing the price of public transport until 2020.
Let’s hope he keeps his promises. Good luck to him.
And do you know who else wished him well?
None other than US presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
After calling for Muslims to be banned from travelling to America, he said the new London mayor would be an “exception” to the rule.
What a knob!
In all of this, there’s a lesson for our own leaders.
They need to work towards uniting the nation.
By serving all our communities, they can only grow their support base.
Speaking of unity, Munier’s favourite Daily Voice story of the week was about the sheikh and pastor who are running a karate school for kids in Belhar.
Good people working together to do good things - love it!