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WE welcome assurances by South African President Jacob Zuma that foreigners are protected by that country’s “friendly” legislative system which accommodates everyone irrespective of their nationality but we urge Pretoria to rein in its citizens given to making disparaging remarks about foreigners as they encourage xenophobia.
King Goodwill Zwelithini and President Zuma’s eldest son Edward have made controversial statements calling for the removal of all foreigners in South Africa and these utterances have been seized upon by unruly elements in KwaZulu-Natal who have gone on to launch xenophobic attacks against foreigners.
Two weeks ago, Zwelithini told a gathering in Pongola at a moral regeneration rally in northern KZN that foreigners needed to pack their bags and leave South Africa because they were changing the nature of South African society and competing for jobs with locals.
Last week, Edward Zuma came out in full support of the King’s utterances. “We need to be aware that as a country, we are sitting on a ticking time bomb of them (foreigners) taking over the country.
“The reason why I’m saying that is because some of the foreigners are working for private security companies where they have been employed for cheap labour. These companies are running away from complying with South African labour laws,” said the president’s eldest son.
Despite the South African Human Rights Commission now probing the Zulu king’s utterances, Zuma junior said, as a citizen of South Africa, he fully agreed with the king. He said some foreigners didn’t have legal documentation permitting them to be in the country. The time bomb, charged Zuma, was that some foreigners were carrying guns and some of them were soldiers in their home countries.
“In South Africa, you need to have a gun licence to be able to carry a gun. Where are their licences? We can’t rule out the possibility of a coup in the future. The government needs to clean out everyone that is in the country illegally. They need to leave,” said Zuma.
Following the King’s comments and Edward Zuma’s support for the utterances, xenophobic violence reared its head in Durban this week, with foreign nationals given an ultimatum to leave the country left fearing for their lives and seeking refuge with police. According to the IOL news agency, about 120 people were attacked in Isipingo on Monday night.
“This is black Easter in KZN for foreigners,” said China Ngubane, a human-rights activist based in Durban, who was on the scene. “In Malugazi, 3km from Isipingo, shops are being looted now. One Ethiopian (was) allegedly killed.” “In Kenville, near Moses Mabhida Stadium, roads are blocked; foreign-owned shops looted. One Indian couple chased (was) from a house. (There were) reports that the couple may have been killed,” Ngubane said in an email.
Another eyewitness, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Vox that the protests did not appear to be organic. “It didn’t look like your normal people joining a mob; this looked orchestrated,” he said. Foreign-owned shops in Isipingo have since been boarded up and street hawkers have fled. “There are a lot of guys who are hawkers (in Isipingo); they’ve got little tents, cutting hair”.
After the attacks, foreign nationals fled for safety to the Isipingo police station. It’s believed that the riots were sparked by Zwelithini’s comments. Members of the mob allegedly told foreigners Zwelithini had said foreigners should go home “by April 1”.
Yesterday, we reported that President Zuma had moved to reassure foreigners that they were welcome in South Africa but clearly his government needs to do more to stem the tide of inflammatory utterances by its citizens particularly prominent people like his son Edward. Zuma’s spokesperson Mac Maharaj said South Africa had a liberal and open system that allowed everyone to stay in the country as long as they are there legally.
“Our policy as the South African government is that we’ve a very clear and well-defined liberal system that allows anyone to be in our country legally regardless of where they come from. We believe our country has an open and friendly legislative system to accommodate our neighbours including other countries in Africa and beyond,” said Maharaj.
“In as much as we have our own socio-economic problems just like any other country, we firmly believe that we need to deal with them rather than entirely blaming it on foreigners. We’ve one of the most liberal systems in the world.” he said as he distanced the government and Presidency from King Zwelithini’s utterances.
We appreciate the South African government’s stance and call on it to counsel people like Zwelithini and Edward to stop making irresponsible comments that might spark xenophobic attacks on foreigners.
The two should be told to stop using their stations in life to stoke hatred and disdain for people from other countries.
Online Reporter