South Africa is facing growing global condemnation for the ongoing sporadic acts of lawlessness, looting and arson said to be xenophobic.
The concerns from notable leaders of international agencies, governments and their citizens who have, in Nigeria and Zambia, responded with reprisal looting and destruction of South African businesses forcing the closure of other including embassies in precaution but after one in Zambia was stormed in and vandalised. It’s unknown what the South African government is contemplating as advice for its citizens currently in other countries.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the body debated the incidents mostly occurring in Gauteng, as xenophobic. He urged for a speedy end to the carnage and commended President Cyril Ramaphosa for disproving the acts which Premier David Makhura described as coordinated acts of criminality.
“After the looting, the targeted shops are burnt including those of citizens.”
Notably, condemnation has been from South African Dr. Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, head of UN Women who described the acts as xenophobia laced with criminality. “It’s a horrible pot,” she said urging the government to take drastic steps to end the carnage.
The Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela said the coordinated incidents flared up in areas where police presence wasn’t overly visible. “We are on the tails of the ring leaders,” he said
The mayhem is also topical in the African Diaspora Forum with the spokesperson Amir Sheikh in a media report, urging against retaliatory action in other countries.
It’s hoped the accumulating impact from the condemnations, retaliations and economic effects will spur urgent action from the government. Advice from Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town was for the government to use force in quelling the incidents. This as several people have been arrested and the latest flare-ups reported on the East Rand following after ones in Pretoria, Joburg, Ekurhuleni and in Alexandra.
Silent in the saga are the views of the communities which are inconvenienced by the loss of services and loss of jobs.
Countering this assertion is President Cyril Ramaphosa who urged other nationals with critical skills required for the country’s economic development to take advantage of the government’s invitation. This though said while other leaders send mixed message condemning foreign nationals of turning inner-city buildings into squalor and crime dens and, proposing that foreign nationals be excluded from trading competitively in mostly small-scale and street-trading businesses. These sentiments are said to fuel suspicious of government’s disinterest in solving the challenge.
Diaspora forum chairperson Vusumuzi Sibanda has been reported saying the KwaZulu-Natal government and ANC structures were in March informed of imminent attacks on foreign truck drivers in that province but did nothing and again in August after messages circulated.
Related article:
