XENOPHOBIA ATTACKS GRIP SA…Zim sounds ‘genocide’ warning
SOUTH African police fought running battles with hundreds of locals armed with knobkerries, pangas and rocks in the port city of Durban yesterday as a new wave of xenophobia showed no signs of abating. Durban’s CBD witnessed most of the clashes between police, foreigners and locals, with a car set alight, stun grenades and tear gas canisters being fired.
One hundred and fifty foreign nationals had to take refuge in a building after being attacked by a crowd. Five people have died since Friday, starting with two Ethiopians who were petrol bombed in the container they slept in and ran their small business from. No Zimbabwean deaths have so far been reported.
South African president Jacob Zuma said that several cabinet members had been assigned to KwaZulu Natal to work with local officials to quell the unrest.
Zuma said the government is addressing “complaints about illegal and undocumented migrants, the takeover of local shops and other businesses by foreign nationals as well as perceptions that foreign nationals perpetrate crime,” and added that legal migrants contribute significantly to the country’s economy.
Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo yesterday said Zimbabwe was watching with concern the unfolding wave of violence which he said appeared to be targeted at black Africans.
Whereas most media commentators have identified the violence as “xenophobia” – a hatred of foreigners – Prof Moyo used the word “Afrophobia”, which is a hatred of other Africans.
He warned that xenophobia could “easily mutate” into genocide.
“Xenophobia today can easily mutate into genocide tomorrow. Stop It,” the minister said on Twitter, using the hashtag #AfrophobiaInSAMustEnd.
Prof Moyo also took aim at the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, whose call for “foreigners to leave” appeared to have inflamed the latest anti-foreigner sentiment in KwaZulu Natal province, whose capital is Durban.
“King Zwelithini must extinguish what he ignited. Xenophobia is a crime against humanity,” Moyo tweeted in one of the first public reactions from a Zimbabwe government official to the violence that has horrified many Zimbabweans.
Reports from South Africa said a crowd of about 700 people gathered at the end of Monty Naicker Road, where it intersects with Dr Yusuf Dadoo Road, in the Durban CBD – taunting police and baying for the blood of foreign nationals. Police used water cannons and stun grenades to control the crowds. Pictures of a man showing injuries to his right leg circulated online with claims that he had been shot by police using rubber bullets.
As commuters headed home late in the afternoon, sirens wailed throughout the seaside city and a pall of smoke rose from the CBD.
Police spokesperson Jay Naicker said: “The police are still monitoring the situation.”
When asked to clarify unconfirmed reports on social media that a Pakistani national had been shot, or had been set alight, he replied: “We heard that there was a man injured but we can’t confirm at this stage as no case has been opened.”
Rights group Amnesty International called on South Africa authorities to “launch full, transparent and independent investigations, and bring suspected perpetrators to account.”
“The prevailing culture of impunity must be stopped,” said Sicel’mpilo Shange-Buthane, executive director of Amnesty International-South Africa.
“Amnesty International has repeatedly appealed to the South African government, including in January this year, to develop a systematic plan involving the police and other agencies to prevent and protect refugees from targeted attacks,” he added.
The Durban violence outbreak follows similar uprisings in Soweto where foreign shops were looted and foreigners displaced three weeks ago.
In 2008, in the worst violence to date against foreigners, over a dozen people were killed — some burned alive through necklacing, a barbaric slow-killing method in which a burning tyre is placed around one’s neck.
At the time, President Thabo Mbeki – horrified by the violence – said South Africans’ heads were “bowed in shame”.
“We’ve always known that regardless of the boundaries drawn by others to define us as different and separate from our kith and kin, and even despite our occupation of different spaces across the divides occasioned by the existence of the oceans that nature has formed, we share with those of whom we are part, a common destiny,” President Mbeki said.
South Africa is home to at least one million Zimbabweans, many of them illegal residents. Only last week, President Mugabe – on a State visit to Zimbabwe’s southern neighbour – thanked the South African government for its “tolerance” shown to Zimbabwean immigrants over the years.
“We owe you not just a gesture of thankfulness, which we must express, but we owe you that thankfulness for the tolerance there has been on the part of the government here, as our people have really offended your system by jumping the border and disturbing even the social system here,” the President said.
There have been calls by Zimbabweans on social media for locals to boycott a show by Durban-based group Big Nuz in protest against the xenophobic violence. The group is due to perform in Bulawayo on Friday.
Not everyone agrees with a boycott. One Twitter user shot back: “Might as well boycott all SA products in Zimbabwean shops over xenophobia while you’re at it #slipperyslope.”
Another user @patphiri said: “So are people also going to boycott #SABC soapies/ SA PSL/ SA booze or #BigNuz are the fall guys?”
Meanwhile, Prof Moyo also hit back at ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe’s criticism of President Mugabe’s treatment of whites, saying Zimbabwe did not agree with the ANC’s view on blacks.
Prof Moyo tweeted a link to a story headlined “We differ with Mugabe on whites: Mantashe” and commented: “And we differ with ANC on blacks!”
“In Zanu-PF we reject Afrophobia,” Prof Moyo said in another tweet.
His comments were in reaction to Mantashe’s claim on Monday that the ANC “theorises colonialism differently to Zanu-PF” and has no desire to “drive white people into the sea”.
Editorial Comment: SA government must stop xenophobic attacks
WE are appalled at the escalating xenophobic attacks currently underway in South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal province and call on the government of President Jacob Zuma to do all it can to stop them. Mobs of South African nationals are roaming the townships of Durban and other surrounding areas wantonly looting shops, burning them and attacking foreigners who run them in sickening scenes reminiscent of the violence which engulfed Gauteng province in 2008.
More than 2,000 foreigners, mostly Ethiopians, Malawians, Congolese and Zimbabweans are homeless and have sought shelter in makeshift camps and we are worried for their safety. Some of them have lost all of their belongings and sources of livelihood after their homes were torched and shops burnt and looted by crazed gangs that appear to be a law unto themselves.
The police appear heavily outnumbered or reluctant to confront the mobs who have been unleashing a reign of terror for the past weeks. Criminals have also taken advantage of the situation and joined the bandwagon. As of yesterday, the death toll stood at seven according to South African media reports. The government of Malawi yesterday reportedly began the voluntary repatriation of its citizens while President Zuma is reported to have dispatched three ministers to KZN to deal with the situation.
Four people were killed and shops were looted and burnt as violence between residents and foreign nationals escalated in Durban at the weekend. Those killed included an Ethiopian, whose shop was petrol bombed last week, an immigrant whose nationality was not immediately known and two South Africans, police spokesman Thulani Zwane said on Monday. Police said 28 people have been arrested for looting and torching immigrants’ shops and were due to appear in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court.
Agency reports said on Sunday night a mob set upon foreigners at KwaMashu’s A-Section hostel, and the township’s B and D-sections. Several police vehicles that responded were stoned. Residents in neighbouring Avoca Hills reported they could hear screams, and what sounded like gunshots. In Varsity Drive, Reservoir Hills, another mob, carrying sticks and grass cutters, attacked foreigners. A resident said the mob was going to various tuck shops, owned by foreigners, and looting them.
Yesterday, the children displaced by the attacks did not go back to school. Sinikiwe Sibanda, a Zimbabwean woman, told the Reuters agency that she had just returned from an Easter break in Zimbabwe with her four-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son when they were attacked and forced out of their informal settlement home.
“We can’t even go back for their uniforms,” she said. A witness told of horrific scenes in Durban’s Umlazi Township where marauding gangs were attacking foreigners and looting their shops.
“This is like a war zone. It’s like we’re in Syria. I’ve never seen such cruelty,” he told news agency AFP.
Xenophobia is now a perennial problem in South Africa and the government there should find ways of addressing it in a holistic manner. Most foreigners who run spaza shops are in South Africa legally and invest their hard earned money to open them. It is not their problem that locals lack the business acumen they possess and the South African government should make it clear to its citizens that looting and burning foreign-owned shops will not help improve their lot. Granted, there is grinding poverty in some sections of these xenophobic hotspots but attacking foreign nationals just because they appear to be running thriving businesses is the height of irresponsibility and barbarism which have no place in modern society.
The law should be allowed to take its course and the perpetrators of xenophobic attacks must be brought to book. We urge the South African government to deal ruthlessly with these lumpen elements out to tarnish the image of that country. We are sure South Africa does not want to appear like a nation that does not tolerate nationals of other countries and we have faith in the government of President Zuma that it will tackle the problem head on and nip it in the bud.
Traditional leaders such as King Goodwill Zwelithini should be reminded that it is not a coincidence that xenophobic attacks began soon after he made some unfortunate remarks about foreigners needing to go back to their countries.
Now that his subjects have latched onto those misguided utterances, we hope he sleeps soundly at night after watching the horrific scenes playing out in the streets of Umlazi and other KZN townships.
Artistes unite against xenophobia -threaten to boycott Big Nuz, Cassper Nyovest shows
Bongani Ndlovu and Rutendo Kanogoiwa Showbiz Reporters
ZIMBABWEAN artistes have called for a boycott of South African musicians’ shows here as a protest over xenophobic attacks gripping South Africa. They said there was no reason for merrymaking with South African artistes when some Zimbabweans based in that country are being killed. Five people were reportedly killed after an outbreak of xenophobic violence in Durban over the weekend, three months after attacks on foreign shop owners in Soweto. Over 1,000 foreigners from Zimbabwe, Burundi, Malawi and Mozambique have been displaced because of the attacks.
As a result, artistes from Bulawayo and Harare this week united against the xenophobic attacks challenging artistes in South Africa to come out and demand an end to the violence targeted at foreigners residing there.
A lobby group — Bulawayo anti-xenophobic movement (Baxem) has since been formed to fight xenophobia in the region by raising awareness through social media networking sites.
Yesterday, Baxem members could be seen removing posters of the forthcoming Big Nuz and Cassper Nyovest shows in Bulawayo.
“We can’t mourn and party at the same time. Our brothers and sisters went to South Africa to work and now they’re getting killed.
“The artistes there should raise awareness about this hateful crime to humanity that’s being perpetrated by their fans, before coming to Zimbabwe,” Baxem spokesperson, Nqobile Malikongwa said.
He challenged Zimbabweans to boycott the South Africans’ shows if that country’s artistes do not condemn xenophobia.
Malikongwa said Big Nuz which comes from Durban where most of the violence is occurring needed to condemn the violence from their base first before attempting to fly to Bulawayo for their show on Friday.
Zim dancehall artiste — Centre Party said failure by South African artistes to condemn the violence would result in them refusing to perform or attend the shows they stage here.
“We’re all black Africans. All we want is to spread the message that we’re not happy about the way our fellow family members are being treated in the neighbouring country. Surprisingly, these artistes get our support through our attendance and money which they use to boost their economy yet they choose to ill-treat fellow Zimbabweans,” Centre Party said.
Afro-jazz musician Willis Wataffi, Sandra Ndebele-Sibindi and Mbo Mahocs, among other artistes united to call for a peaceful demonstration at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo on Friday when Big Nuz touch down. Artistes in Harare revealed plans to stage theirs at the South African Embassy.
Promoters of the Big Nuz and Cassper Nyovest shows refused to comment.
A disappointed South Africa-based Zimbabwean dancehall artiste Buffalo Souljah took to his Facebook page yesterday to express his anger.
“During apartheid South African nationals sought refuge in our homelands as they fought for their freedom now we’re hunted like animals here.
“Where is the UN, African Union and Sadc when blood is spilt on African soil? Or will you take action if a European, Asian, American living in South Africa is attacked?
“If this continues then we’re going to petition against any South African activities in Africa be it sport, music and film,” said Big Buffs as he is affectionately known.
“If Zimbabweans contribute over a 100 billion rand a year to the nation’s GDP, then how much do we contribute as a collective in Africa?”
Winky D, who is meant to perform with Cassper Nyovest on April 25 expressed concern over the brutal attacks.
“There’s no justification to what’s happening in South Africa. I’m in support of anything upholding humanity as long as it’s in a peaceful and civilised way,” Winky D said.
Comedian — Babongile Sikhonjwa said they were planning to embark on a campaign involving a song, photos and videos to condemn the xenophobic attacks.
“After a heated argument we’ve agreed as artistes to do a campaign targeting the South African personalities in the arts so as to raise awareness about the violence in their country.
“We’ll do this through producing songs, video clips and posters that condemn the violence,” Sikhonjwa said.
He said more South African artistes should take a leaf from DJs Sbu, Oskido, AKA and Buffalo Souljah who have denounced the violence.
“Xenophobia is disgusting . . . In fact, as a South African, I feel embarrassed,” tweeted AKA yesterday.
DJ Sbu recently changed his Twitter status to: “IsayNotoXenophobia”.
Gruesome videos on social media networking sites — Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are doing the rounds showing tyres being placed round foreigners’ necks, with the perpetrators pouring petrol and burning the victims alive in front of cheering crowds.
Foreigners’ shops are being targeted, looted and burnt down in the attacks.
With heads bowed in shame
Thabo Mbeki—
SOUTH Africa is in the grips of a fast-spreading wave of xenophobic attacks on foreigners by poor locals who claim they have taken their jobs and blame them for crime. In 2008, after a similar outbreak of violence which exclusively targeted fellow black Africans, the then President Thabo Mbeki delivered this impassioned speech:
Directors of Ceremony,
Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers, Mayors and members of all spheres of Government,
Your Excellencies, Diplomatic Representatives of the sister nations of the world,
Representatives of communities which live and work side by side with our immigrant population,
Leaders of political parties,
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fellow South Africans:
I’m privileged to participate in this important Gathering of Remembrance to honour fellow Africans from our country and other parts of the African continent whose lives were needlessly ended through the criminal violence which erupted in various localities in our country in May this year.
Many of us present here today view ourselves as the offspring of forebears who advanced a noble vision starting 150 years ago – the vision of Africans, on our Continent and the Diaspora, free at last, proud of themselves and their heritage, and united in their resolve to combine in a mighty force of liberation to uplift themselves.
I speak here of the Rev Tiyo Soga. More than 140 years ago, Tiyo Soga wrote about the unity of all Africans both on the Continent and the Diaspora. Writing to salute the struggle of the African-Americans for freedom from slavery during the American Civil War, he said the African-Americans were “looking forward to the dawn of a better day for (the African-American) and all his sable brethren in Africa.”
I also speak here of J.G. Xaba. A hundred and ten (1897) years ago, J.G. Xaba, one of the founders of the Ethiopian church movement in our country, said “the aim of the Ethiopian church is to promote… unity in the whole continent of Africa.”
I speak too of Pixley ka Isaka Seme. A hundred (1906) years ago, Pixley Seme celebrated the grandeur and dignity of all Africans in the following and famous moving passages:
“I would ask you not to compare Africa to Europe or to any other continent. I make this request not from any fear that such comparison might bring humiliation upon Africa. The reason, I’ve stated – a common standard is impossible! Come with me to the ancient capital of Egypt, Thebes, the city of one hundred gates. The grandeur of its venerable ruins and the gigantic proportions of its architecture reduce to insignificance the boasted monuments of other nations.
“The pyramids of Egypt are structures to which the world presents nothing comparable. The mighty monuments seem to look with disdain on every other work of human art and to vie with nature herself. All the glory of Egypt belongs to Africa and her people. These monuments are the indestructible memorials of their great and original genius.
“It’s not through Egypt alone that Africa claims such unrivalled historic achievements. I could’ve spoken of the pyramids of Ethiopia, which, though inferior in size to those of Egypt, far surpass them in architectural beauty; their sepulchres which evince the highest purity of taste, and of many prehistoric ruins in other parts of Africa. In such ruins Africa is like the golden sun, that, having sunk beneath the western horizon, still plays upon the world which he sustained and enlightened in his career…
“Oh, for that historian who, with the open pen of truth, will bring to Africa’s claim the strength of written proof. He will tell of a race whose onward tide was often swelled with tears, but in whose heart bondage hasn’t quenched the fire of former years. He will write that in these later days when Earth”s noble ones are named, she has a roll of honour too, of whom she isn’t ashamed.
“The giant is awakening! From the four corners of the earth Africa’s sons, who’ve been proved through fire and sword, are marching to the future’s golden door bearing the records of deeds of valour done.”
The visionary words spoken by Tiyo Soga in the 7th decade of the 19th century gave birth to the historic goal enunciated by J.G. Xaba in the 10th decade of the same century, and this, in turn, inspired Pixley Seme’s prophetic imagining during the 1st decade of the 20th century, which foretold of the future golden door of freedom.
It’s on these foundations, which are more than a hundred-and-fifty years old, that generations of our people built a great edifice of African hope, Africa’s oldest liberation movement, the African National Congress.
It’s from this Mother of Hope that we’ve drawn the nourishment that has defined and taught us who and what we want to be, a Mother of Hope who must fight through all time to remain the Mother of Hope she has been for many generations.
As we’ve grown up, because of where we’ve suckled, we’ve therefore always known that we belong among the teeming millions of Africans in Africa and the Diaspora, an inalienable part of these masses.
We’ve always known that regardless of the boundaries drawn by others to define us as different and separate from our kith and kin, and even despite our occupation of different spaces across the divides occasioned by the existence of the oceans that nature has formed, we share with those of whom we’re part, a common destiny.
We’ve also always striven to combine with all Africans in Africa and the Diaspora in one united, gigantic, open conspiracy and effort to restore to ourselves our collective human dignity, based on the unshakeable conviction that no African anywhere will be free until all Africans everywhere are free.
Because we’ve, at all times, known of the grandeur and originality of Africa and the Africans, of which Pixley Seme spoke, of the indelible valour of the African heroes and heroines proved through fire and sword, of whom Pixley Seme wrote, we’ve known that as Africa and Africans, acting together, we’ll achieve our Renaissance, our rebirth.
We’ve constantly thought it self-evident that, as Pixley ka Isaka Seme had said, the regeneration of Africa would come to be, and would mean that “a new and unique civilisation would soon be added to the world…(whose) essential departure (would be) that it’s thoroughly spiritual and humanistic — indeed a regeneration moral and eternal!”
And yet we, the offspring and heirs to the noble spirit and vision of African unity and solidarity advanced by our own giants of thought and action, Tiyo Soga, J.G. Xaba and Pixley Seme, have gathered here today with heads bowed in shame because it has seemed that what happened in our country in May betrayed the dreams of many generations, including our own.
We’ve gathered here today to convey to all Africans everywhere, to all African nations, severally and collectively, to our own people, and to the families of people who were murdered, our sincere condolences, and our heartfelt apologies that Africans in our country committed unpardonable crimes against other Africans.
We’ve convened here to express our pain that, today, we’ve fellow Africans from various African countries — Somalia, the DRC, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Malawi — and others, who are quarantined in temporary camps, separated from the African communities in which they lived peacefully as fellow-Africans, until the dark days of May that descended upon them without warning.
We’re meeting here, today, to pledge that:
● we will do everything necessary to ensure that as Africans, regardless of our geographic origins, we will once more live together as Africans, at peace with one another, refusing to impose on ourselves a new apartheid order;
● we’ll work expeditiously to achieve the reintegration of all the displaced Africans within the communities from which they were forced to flee because of murderous criminal activities;
● we’ll do everything necessary to assist the victims of this criminal onslaught, both the South Africans and our foreign guests, to resume their normal lives;
● we’ll act without any unnecessary delay to address all genuine concerns which may give birth to tensions between the native and immigrant Africans;
● as we work to improve our social and national cohesion, we’ll also address the challenge to entrench the understanding that this includes full acceptance within all our communities of new residents from other countries, as well as the understanding among the latter that we welcome them as good neighbours and citizens;
● we’ll work to mobilise all our communities to isolate and defeat the evil elements in our midst who target vulnerable African migrants, subjecting them to violent attacks for criminal purposes and personal gain;
● we’ll ensure that all those responsible for the criminal activities during the dark days of May, targeted against African migrants, face the full might of the law; and,
● we’ll take all necessary and possible measures to sustain respect for the law and our Constitutional order by all who live in our country, and the safety and security of all these, whether native-born or immigrant.
As many were killed or maimed during the dark days of May, thousands displaced, businesses and homes looted, and homes and businesses destroyed by arson, I heard it said insistently that my people have turned or have become xenophobic.
The word xenophobia means a deep antipathy towards or hatred of foreigners. When I heard some accuse my people of xenophobia, of hatred of foreigners, I wondered what the accusers knew about my people, which I didn’t know.
Over many years I’ve visited many parts of our country, both urban and rural, in all our provinces, and met many people from other countries, including African countries, who haven’t hesitated to announce their countries of origin.
On occasion I’ve been amazed to hear people in the Western Cape introduce themselves as migrants from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. On occasion I’ve been amazed to hear people in small towns of Mpumalanga introduce themselves as migrants from Somalia. On occasion I’ve been amazed to hear people in Western Gauteng introduce themselves as migrants from Mozambique.
On these and other occasions I’ve known that these immigrants could thus openly introduce themselves because they knew, from their experience, that because they hadn’t experienced any xenophobia, they had no need to hide their countries of origin.
I’ve been to Guinea Conakry, at the upper end of the Gulf of Guinea on the African west coast. The Guineans told me of their fellow nationals who live in our country and tell their relatives and government of how they’ve made our country their new home.
Everything I know about my people tells me that these heirs to the teachings of Tiyo Soga, J.G. Xaba and Pixley Seme, the masses who’ve consistently responded positively to the Pan-African messages of the oldest liberation movement on our Continent, the African National Congress, aren’t xenophobic.
These masses are neither antipathetic towards, nor do they hate foreigners. And this I must also say — none in our society has any right to encourage or incite xenophobia by trying to explain naked criminal activity by cloaking it in the garb of xenophobia.
I know that there are some in our country who will charge that what I’ve said constitutes a denial of our reality.
However, I dare say that if anyone convenes residents of Nkomazi in Mpumalanga, Hammanskaraal, Atteridgeville, Alexandra Township, Diepsloot, Orange Farm, Ekurhuleni, Motherwell, Khayelitsha, Inanda, and stays to listen to these ordinary South Africans, none will hear our people say we should attack immigrants, or that they hate these because they’re foreigners.
And yet, despite everything I’ve said, we’ve, as native South Africans, gathered here today with heads bowed in shame, because of the immense pain and fear about the future that some among us deliberately inflicted on fellow Africans in our country, who originate from other lands on our Continent and elsewhere in the world.
In spite of this reality, I will not hesitate to assert that my people aren’t diseased by the terrible affliction of xenophobia which has, in the past, led to the commission of the heinous crime of genocide.
I will not hesitate to say that the cultures of all our people, black and white, and despite the many centuries of racism imposed on our society by force of arms, continue to inform the overwhelming majority of our homesteads that they should welcome all visitors and travellers in a spirit of friendship and human compassion.
I will not hesitate to say that despite the centrifugal impulses generated by colonialism and apartheid leading to the dissipation of the human instinct towards human solidarity, my people, still, harbour in their hearts a deep-seated respect for the practice immanent in the outlook described as Ubuntu, to give water, food and refuge to the traveller.
As a people, we fully understand the proverb of the people of Madagascar that it’s not the fire in the fireplace which warms the house, but the people who get along well.
Still, we, the offspring and heirs to the noble spirit and vision of African unity and solidarity advanced by our own giants of thought and action, Tiyo Soga, J.G. Xaba and Pixley Seme, have gathered here today with heads bowed in shame, because some in our communities acted in ways that communicated the message that the values of Ubuntu are dead, and that they lie entombed in the graves of the cadavers of people who died ostensibly solely because they came among us as travellers in search of refuge.
Obviously and needless to say, we have a common responsibility to explain this conundrum — the seeming disjuncture which sets in opposition one to the other, what we pride ourselves about who and what we are, and what our practical actions broadcast about who and what we really are.
The dark days of May which have brought us here today were visited on our country by people who acted with criminal intent. What happened during these days wasn’t inspired by a perverse nationalism, or extreme chauvinism, resulting in our communities violently expressing the hitherto unknown sentiment of mass and mindless hatred of foreigners — xenophobia.
Those who have eyes to see will have seen that much of the violence we experienced was targeted at the immigrants who had property to loot. Those who have eyes to see will have seen that the majority of the immigrants who live in conditions of poverty as do many of our people weren’t attacked.
Those who have eyes to see will have seen that in other disturbances in the past, allegedly occasioned by so-called service failures of municipal councils, small shops owned by immigrants have been looted.
We’re confronted by the reality that, objectively, it will take a considerable period of time before we achieve our objective of providing a better life for all our people. Objectively, therefore, together with the masses of our people as a conscious agent of change, we must continue to manage the reality of unfulfilled expectations.
As we’ve said before, like other countries in Africa and elsewhere in the world, we’re going through a very difficult period of rising food and fuel prices, higher costs of borrowing, rising inflation, and therefore the erosion of the living standards of especially the poor.
None of us can be happy or satisfied with this reality.
At the same time we must recognise the reality, and work continuously to oppose it, that some in our midst will seek to exploit this to attack the immigrants in our midst, falsely blaming them for our woes, seeking to use their vulnerability to loot their possessions for personal gain, as happened during the dark days of May.
Today, gathered here as a representative microcosm of our country, we must reaffirm that we remain loyal heirs of our noble forebears, Tiyo Soga, J.G. Xaba, Pixley Seme and the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for our liberation, and therefore will continue, as Africans, to be our brothers’ and our sisters’ keepers.
Today, gathered here as a representative microcosm of our country, we must reaffirm that we’re committed to the sustained pursuit of the goal of the regeneration of Africa and the African Diaspora, based on the unshakeable understanding that we’re to one another, as Africans, brothers and sisters.
Today, gathered here as a representative microcosm of our country, we must pledge that never again will we allow that anybody brings shame to our nation by betraying the values of Ubuntu and committing crimes against our visitors and travellers, thus to besmirch the character of the eminently good human beings who constitute our nation as a people afflicted by the cancerous disease of xenophobia.
Today, gathered here as a representative microcosm of our country, and proud of our people’s pioneering and vanguard role in the struggle for the emancipation of all Africans and the restoration of their dignity, we must make the solemn undertaking that we, as leaders and representatives of our people, will continue to act as servants of the African peoples, determined to combat all tendencies that lead to the dissolution of African cohesion and solidarity at the altar of the pursuit of the pernicious goal of personal gain and aggrandisement.
Today, gathered here as a representative microcosm of our country, we must state that we know that the problems of our country and Continent will not be solved by declarations and demands, and suggestions that we’ve instant solutions to address long-standing and complicated challenges.
I thank you for taking the trouble to gather here this afternoon. Let everybody who comes to learn of this occasion and everything that was said this afternoon, understand the unalterable truths that:
● as Africans we’ll never abandon the values of Ubuntu;
● as Africans we’ll never become enemies of other Africans;
● we define ourselves as Africans because we belong within the family of the billion Africans who live in Africa and the Africa Diaspora, who are linked to one another by a common destiny;
● we’re proudly African, not only because of our indelible contribution to human civilisation, but also because we know that the regeneration of Africa will add new humane values to human society, as demonstrated by the many in our society who rallied to provide assistance to and reintegrate the thousands of displaced fellow Africans;
● as South Africans, who fought for more than three centuries to achieve the dignity of all Africans and all human beings, regardless of race, colour, and gender, we will never allow that we fall victim to the criminal perversion of xenophobia, which, in earlier times, led to the genocidal destruction of entire peoples in the Americas, South Africa and Australia, and, more recently, the Jewish Holocaust in Europe and the Genocide in Rwanda; and,
● as South Africans, who know the value of international solidarity and Pan-Africanism, we’ll continue to extend a hand of help to all other Africans whether in Haiti or the Central African Republic; Somalia, Guinea Bissau or Comoros; Sudan, Niger or Zimbabwe.
On behalf of our people and Government I humbly convey to our people, our foreign guests, all Africa and the peoples of the world, our apology that we allowed criminals in our midst to inflict terrible pain and damage to many in our society, including and particularly our foreign guests.
We’ll do everything possible and necessary to ensure that we’ve no need in future to proffer this humble apology, which is inspired by genuine remorse.
Thank you.
We must look after our fellow Africans — Mbete
CAPE Town – National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has ordered ANC leaders to return the favour other African countries offered, when its members were in exile during apartheid, and stop xenophobic attacks. Mbete appealed to the ruling party to take the lead and stop sitting back and watching attacks on foreign nationals.
Speaking at the Limpopo Provincial General Council in Polokwane over the weekend, she told delegates that xenophobic attacks in South Africa had put the ANC “in a difficult position on the continent”.
She said during the first xenophobic attacks, ANC leaders had faced difficult questions, not only from the opposition, but from the rest of the continent as well.
“Many African leaders still regard the ANC as their party, and also founded their political parties after being inspired by the ANC agenda at the time,” she said.
“So let’s be willing today, when we’re busy assaulting foreigners we need to remember that the ANC belongs to the rest of Africa, and that’s why the rest of Africa hosted the ANC when it needed Africa.
“They looked after us, so sometimes when you watch the things we do to Africans from the rest of the continent it’s very… very embarrassing.”
Mbete said alliance leaders should unite and called for an end to “power bickering”.
“You can’t unite other people unless you’re united, Cosatu is disintegrating right before us. It’s sad, comrades,” she said.
South Africa has in the past been seen as a model for democracy for the African continent, but its reputation has been tarnished by waves of xenophobic attacks throughout the country.
Meanwhile, the Malawian government said yesterday it would help repatriate its citizens from South Africa following an outbreak of xenophobic violence in Durban that has left four people dead.
“The situation is really tense as about 360 Malawians are stranded in South Africa following xenophobic attacks there,” Information Minister Kondwani Nankhumwa told reporters.
He said the Malawians targeted had “lost everything”, including their passports.
The attacks on immigrant-owned shops and homes in Durban’s townships come three months after a similar spate of attacks on foreign-owned shops in Soweto.
In both cases, shops have been looted and foreign traders ordered to shut up shop.
Over 1,000 foreigners in Durban have fled their homes and are now living in temporary camps, under police guard.
Police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said the situation was “tense but under control”, with police deployed to patrol affected areas.
He said four people had been killed since the beginning of the month, including an Ethiopian man whose shop was petrol-bombed by a mob Friday night.
Nearly 50 people have been arrested — 28 on Sunday night alone.
Nankhumwa said the Malawian embassy in Pretoria had started processing temporary travel documents for its nationals.
Hundreds of Malawians escaping poverty back home move to South Africa every year in search of work.
Violence against migrants from other African countries is common in South Africa, with locals accusing foreigners of taking their jobs and business.
The government has condemned the violence, with President Jacob Zuma sending a team of ministers to assess the situation. — News24/AFP.
Pietermaritzburg CBD at a standstill as looting spreads
Pietermaritzburg – The Pietermaritzburg CBD came to a standstill on Wednesday after looters ransacked foreign-owned shops, forcing owners to close doors in fear of further xenophobic attacks, The Witness reported.
People in the city centre along Church, East and Retief streets were left in a state of panic as police vans swarmed the streets, monitoring the escalating situation.
Streets became gridlocked and some were cordoned off.
Owners witnessed looting and said businesses which remained open were doing so at their own risk.
In Howick, a small group was going around trying to loot shops, many of which closed their doors, The Witness said.
“We are seeing sporadic instances of looting and intimidation of foreign nationals. It is not on the grand scale like we have in KwaMashu, but there have been flare-ups all over the province,” spokesperson Colonel Jay Naicker told News24’s Jeff Wicks.
“We have responded accordingly.”
A well-placed police source said earlier: “We have had reports of looting in Retief Street and Timber Street. We are getting the owners to close up show now. This thing is spreading and we have already been busy all morning in the Mountain Rise area.”
At least five people have been killed in areas around Durban during several days of looting and violence against foreigners.
In Durban’s CBD on Tuesday, a car was set alight and police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas canisters in clashes between looters and foreigners.
A 14-year-old boy became the latest fatality on Monday night. He was shot dead during looting in KwaNdlanzi, allegedly by two security guards.
According to latest figures from the SA Police Service, 74 people have been arrested thus far for offences including murder, public violence, business robbery, theft and possession of firearms and ammunition.-NEWS24
Zim minister’s views on xenophobia ‘hypocritical’
Harare – Former education minister David Coltart on Wednesday said that comments by a top official from President Robert Mugabe’s government slamming xenophobic violence in South Africa were “hypocrisy of the highest order”.
“One cannot pick and choose what types of xenophobia or racism are acceptable or not,” Coltart said in a Facebook post.
“One cannot say that it is fine to make inflammatory racist remarks against one race and then condemn xenophobia or racist behaviour directed against another group,” said the lawyer, who served as education minister during Zimbabwe’s 2009-13 coalition government.
Coltart was responding to Information Minister Jonathan Moyo.
Earlier this week Moyo had hit back at comments from the ANC’s Gwede Mantashe who said the governing South African party “had no desire to drive white people into the sea”.
Productive white farmers
Mantashe’s remarks may in part have been prompted by Mugabe’s declaration during a state visit to South Africa last week that he did not “want to see a white face”.
In his tweet hitting back at Mantashe, Moyo wrote: “We differ with the ANC on blacks!”
Coltart wrote: “To this day [Mugabe's] Zanu-PF is still kicking productive white farmers off land, simply because they are whites who do not happen to support them.”
At least 13 white farmers have been killed and tens of thousands of black farm-workers have lost their jobs since Mugabe, now 91, began a programme of white farm takeovers in 2000.
The former education minister said many Zimbabweans who had fled to South Africa during recent years left due to a “succession of brutal and destructive policies implemented by Moyo’s party”.
Zimbabweans were on Wednesday mulling holding protests against xenophobia outside the South African embassy in Harare, according to social networking sites.-NEWS24
Nhleko against deploying SANDF to quell xenophobic attacks
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko says he doesn’t believe it is necessary to deploy South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers in the Durban area where xenophobic attacks have claimed the lives of several people.
The violence spread from the townships around Durban to the city centre where foreign nationals armed and defended themselves against attacks. Nhleko says what is necessary is for South African people to change their attitude towards foreigners.
The minister says all energies across the country should actually be mobilised towards working on the South African psyche so that what is done is to confront all elements of under-development that we have in our society.
“It can’t be that it’s correct to hate somebody or attack somebody on the basis of origin. The trends seem to indicate that it’s largely people of African origin that are targeted in this particular attack.”
Meanwhile, Africans within the country and in the diaspora have raised concerns regarding the ongoing attacks on foreign nationals in the greater eThekwini Metro in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Africa Solidarity Network, an organisation that looks at issues of social cohesion and integration, will launch the #NOT IN MY NAME campaign aimed at addressing the ongoing violence. Lives have been lost and thousands displaced since the start of the attacks almost two weeks ago.
We are not like that, there’s an element here that’s prone to deep sense of violence that’s using this as an opportunity to loot, to create fear, to plunder, to murder, to beat people and the tragedy is that most of us feel quite powerless about it
The Network’s Ashantewaa Ngidi says the campaign is to assist end the violence and promote co-existence. Ngidi says they will brief the media on the initiative at the Durban’s Bat Centre on Wednesday.
At the same time, the Democracy Development Programme says there are a number of complex reasons why locals feel threatened by foreign nationals. The Programme’s Executive Director, Rama Naidoo, was speaking after the organisation and the Durban University of Technology hosted a dialogue focusing on foreign nationals and migrants.
The dialogue discussed key factors on the current violent xenophobic attacks playing itself out in Durban. Naidoo says the current situation is sad.
According to Naidoo, “We are not like that, there’s an element here that’s prone to deep sense of violence that’s using this as an opportunity to loot, to create fear, to plunder, to murder, to beat people and the tragedy is that most of us feel quite powerless about it.”-SABC