Portuguese councilor calls for equality for Portuguese descendants of South Africans in Portugal

The councilor of the Portuguese communities in Johannesburg, Vasco Pinto de Abreu, spoke on Monday in defense of equal rights and integration for the descendants of the Portuguese in Portugal, such as the CPLP and immigrants from Europe.

“Descendants of the Luso, mainly to give them the opportunity and make it easier for them to travel to Portugal for internships, those who are graduating from universities,” the Portuguese adviser said in an interview with Agência Lusa.

“It would be an added advantage for Portugal, they have highly qualified staff in terms of medicine, engineering, everything and even laws, and that they would have the opportunity to go to Portugal, do an internship, to be able to easily integrate in Portugal and in the EU countries that there are many people who have language difficulties,” he said.

Vasco Pinto de Abreu explained that “inequalities are felt more in the support given and the attention paid to communities.”

During “June 10 and indirectly, when a member of the government or the president of the republic visits the communities, we have short meetings with these organizations, but then basically everything is up in the air,” he explained a few days before the ceremony. who will join the Portuguese heads of state and government.

In this sense, when Vasco Pinto de Abreu was asked about his experience as an adviser to the Council of the Portuguese Communities (CCP) over the past 15 years, he explained that expats feel like “second-class citizens”, as is the case with electoral laws. .

Regarding e-voting on mobility, which South African citizens are claiming as they have to travel hundreds of kilometers to vote in person at their consulate, Vasco Pinto de Abreu said that “the government has done a backflip and now it will only vote face to face” . face to face electronic.

“It’s the same as doing nothing. E-voting for mobility is postponed and there will be no test, which was just a test, it was not even supposed to be implemented yet,” he added.

The Portuguese adviser also underlined that “last year the income from remittances from Portuguese emigrants increased significantly, and this year, already in January, they increased by about 7%”, and even so, the Portuguese abroad continue to “be at the bottom of the budget.” list”. government priorities.

“The absolute majority is not absolute power, it does not impose its ideas on everything and everyone,” he accused.

In this sense, Vasco Pinto de Abreu stressed that the Portuguese in South Africa expect Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s visit to an African country “is a visit during which the wider community can be present along with the head of state, the prime minister and the secretary of state for community affairs, and that challenges in South Africa, as well as opportunities, be raised.”

“And that the official meeting he will have with President Ramaphosa will also serve as a record of the hardships the community is going through,” he added, emphasizing that “those who live in South Africa today are living with hardships, there are several problems, that the rest of the world seems to be ignoring,” he said, noting that “what is happening in South Africa has already happened in Venezuela, and Venezuela’s support has been much more immediate, much more direct.”

“South Africa today also has unfair laws, a new BEE law has just come out. [Black Economic Empowerment] which is deeply unfair and racist, and no one talks about it. Our children and our grandchildren will have a difficult life just because they have the wrong skin color,” Lusa’s Portuguese councilor said.

Marcelo Rebelo de Souza’s trip to South Africa from Monday to June 8 will take place at the invitation of the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, on an official visit and to commemorate the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities, the President of the Portuguese Republic reports.

This year’s Portugal Day celebration will take place in Peso da Régua, the site of the celebration that will reach communities in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa.

In 2018, former Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities José Luis Carneiro said in an interview with Agência Lusa in Johannesburg that “Portugal has a historically important relationship with South Africa” ​​which “incidentally acknowledges in a letter that former President Nelson Mandela sent at one time to the President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio, a letter in which he recognizes the historical role of the Portuguese community in the struggle for liberation, equal opportunities and democracy in the country.

José Luis Carneiro believed that “the most important thing is to maintain, deepen and develop relations with the political authorities” in South Africa, which “is of paramount importance for those who are here and for those who want to come here or for those who also located here, want to invest in Portugal or want to invest in the entire region of South Africa.”