Church leaders tackle xenophobia
Representatives of several churches, spread across Gauteng, met on July 20 to discuss ways to effect change in the way South Africans treat foreign nationals.
The representatives met at eMseni Christian Centre, Brentwood Park AH.
The event, which was organised by the Lutheran Communion of Southern Africa (Lucsa), handled the topic of xenophobia, covering the attacks of 2008 and 2015 and what must be done regarding the treatment of immigrants, both legal and illegal.
The main objective was to discuss ways of preparing leaders in South Africa for another flare-up of violence, but also ways to prevent it.
The speakers included Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa, Bishop Paul Verryn, the Rev Volker Keding, Laura Almirall, Michelle Beeslaar and the Rev David Tswaedi (Lucsa executive director) among others.
The speakers gave examples of violence against foreign nationals and spoke of their own experiences in dealing with issues concerning foreign nationals, as well as suggestions on how to end the violence.
“We just learned that another Lutheran organisation has been involved with peace-building at community levels,” said Tswaedi.
“We will consult with them and see how we can, together and with other role players, influence church leadership, both spiritual and administrative, women, men and youth leaders.
“We want to bring a certain level of tolerance, hospitality and understanding to the plight of refugees.”
According to Tswaedi, this was the first such an event organised by Lucsa and similar events, hopefully with more stakeholders, will follow in the future.
