We should not encircle and wall communities, as if to suggest that, well, that's just the way those communities are, so let's sequester them and get them out of sight. Building a wall is as much about the people it inters as it is about what type of society we want to live in.

I was invited to buka puasa (open the Ramadan fast) with family and friends in Cape Town last weekend. I declined, quietly ... I live in a village about 60km from the city, and I have become scared of travelling into Cape Town on the N2.

This is not some phobia. A few years ago, a rock was thrown through my car window and shattered my jaw, ripped out teeth and the labial frenum, split my bottom lip and left me concussed. Whenever I drive past the spot where I was attacked, I instinctively raise my elbow and forearm to cover my face.

A year or so after that attack, I made the near-fatal error of turning south off the N2 towards the Makassar Kramat. I was attacked ... The car was almost totally wrecked when I ran off the road. Today, my mandible is held in place with a metal piece ... I spill drinks, frequently bite my tongue ... and I have nightmares. I avoid driving into the city.

There is, now, talk of building a wall along (parts of) the N2. It's a bad idea. It's a horrible idea. It has enormous historical and symbolic significance....