New political party's xenophobia call condemned

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Durban - Political and human rights organisations have come out strongly against a political party that wants foreigners to leave the country at the end of 2018. A meeting in uMlazi, on Sunday, became tense as community members debated whether foreign nationals should leave the country. The meeting, held at uMlazi’s V-section community hall, was called by the African Basic Movement (ABM) - a party that has been registered with the Independent Electoral Commission. It intends to participate in next year’s elections. Lieutenant-Colonel Zwane, a police spokesperson, said they condemned the call for foreign nationals to leave the country. He said such actions could lead to xenophobic violence which would strain police resources. Zwane urged people who felt they were intimidated to report the matter to the police. The best option was to work together to solve any differences people might have, he added.

Yasmeen Rajah, director of the NGO Refugee Social Services, said it should be noted that there were people who came to the country as visitors, asylum seekers and people who migrated for economic reasons and it was difficult to differentiate between the various groups.

Rajah said asylum seekers had a right to be in the country. She said this could be a case of ABM manipulating people’s sentiments as they knew that foreign nationals did not have a vote in the country.

Unchecked

“If left unchecked, South Africa could end up being like the United States, where there is strong anti-foreigner sentiment. We are flirting with some serious issues,” she said.

Rajah added that some of the most successful societies were in fact very cosmopolitan in nature and that South Africans could learn from foreign nationals as they came with a wealth of knowledge.

Thembelani Ngubane, general secretary of the African Basic Movement, said he wanted to ensure there was job creation and that South Africa was not an importer and exporter of raw goods. He said jobs were created by making sure that imported goods were processed locally.

He called on all foreign nationals to leave the country by the end of the year and said only those who could make economic contributions to the country should be able to stay.

At the meeting a community member, who did not want to be named, claimed foreign nationals were arriving with diseases and were taking away employment opportunities.

“It is hard to make even R50 here in South Africa, and when you do make it, you can hardly buy anything with it. It is very difficult to live in South Africa,” he said.

Others had differing views.

Sindi Nxumalo rented rooms to foreign nationals and said her house has been attacked numerous times by people who hated foreign nationals. She had been living in fear since Saturday night, worrying that there could be violence in the area.

Nxumalo argued that it needed to be acknowledged that every group of people had a few rotten apples among them.

Daily News