The ceremony facilitated by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CLR) included an early morning cleansing of the site where Mozambican Emmanuel Sithole was murdered on 18 April by four youths now behind bars.
The CLR chairperson Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said the country needs healing from the horrific and shameful xenophobia. “The cleansing is to say no to the killings and hatred which must be replaced with peace and love for fellow men, sisters, mothers, fathers and children of the African continent.”
Xaluva said the killings impacted the nation severely in the eyes of the world and would remain so if the country did not conduct the healing and cleansing of hatred which she attributed to a past history of self-hatred and division sowed among the African people by apartheid and colonisation. “We were taught and made to feel inferior and to hate others and are now applying the same attitude to other nationals mostly of our own colour as they are easy scapegoats instead of embracing them.”
She said the healing is part of an African way of uniting and making equal all the different religions, cultures, languages and to embrace foreign nationals here legally as many of them also practice the same traditions.
Xaluva said the ceremonies in the different provinces will also collate communities’ input into a report to be submitted to the Department of Arts and Culture with recommendations and strategies on how to end xenophobia, violence and crime besieging the country. She urged citizens to engage in the ceremonies in their respective areas.
Details: Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities 011 358 9113.
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