Concerns expressed about how many weapons foreigners have in SA

Civil society organisation People’s Liberation (PL) has expressed concern about unsubstantiated claims that some foreign nationals inside the country kept arms and that some were sponsored by terrorist organisations in their countries.

PL’s chair, Phumudzo Mukhwathi, warned about a ticking time bomb resulting from the alleged illegal proliferation of arms of war within the country, supposedly among some foreigners.

He cautioned South Africans to refrain from any xenophobic attacks, but to leave the situation in the hands of law enforcement agencies. Mukhwathi said neither locals, nor foreigners should be allowed to undermine the rule of law.

“We condemn in the strongest terms what happened in Korsten, Gqeberha, last week. Such incidents could easily turn into a civil war because of many illegal weapons that are in circulation around the country,” Mukhwathi claimed.

Violence broke out and eight taxis and a car were torched in the ensuing fight between local taxi association members and Somalian nationals. The trigger was a car, driven by a foreigner, that collided with a minibus taxi in Durban Road on Wednesday. Seven men from the taxi allegedly assaulted the driver and burnt his car.

Police spokesperson Priscilla Naidu said nearby foreign businesspeople came to help the motorist. In apparent retaliation, eight taxis parked at the rank were torched, two others were damaged and another car was set alight.

The Somali Association of South Africa (Sasa) condemned the violence. It blamed the incident on a lack of social cohesion. Sasa urged the government to foster initiatives to avoid such conflict.

“We also urge the police, who are investigating, that there should be no discrimination in enforcing the law. We finally urge our community to work with the authorities in finding a lasting solution to the conflict,” Sasa said.

Neither Sasa, nor the Somali Community Board of South Africa (Scob) in Mayfair, Johannesburg, responded to claims of foreigners keeping illegal weapons.

Scob deputy chair Abdi Osman said he was unable to comment because he had been studying, while chair Amir Sheik did not answer any calls.

Mukhwathi said: “People’s Liberation appreciates the support we received from African countries for our liberation struggle against apartheid, but our liberation heroes never destroyed infrastructure of other countries.”

He claimed since the opening of borders in 1994, there had been a proliferation of illicit goods such as cigarettes.

The impact on the South African economy, including the South African Revenue Service, has been enormous through, for example, the selling of fake clothing and brands, he claimed.

“The government must take action to control the borders and everyone who comes to South Africa must have legal documents and a legitimate purpose.”

Should the unsubstantiated claims of foreign nationals carrying illegal arms be true, “we call on Police Minister Bheki Cele to intervene and investigate how such high calibre guns was obtained”, Mukhwathi said.

“South Africa is sitting on a ticking time bomb which may lead to civil war.”

– ericn@citizen.co.za