Police transfer arrested people for transport near the Pan Africa Mall in Alexandra, 8 March 2022. Picture: Neil McCartney
Cabinet on Thursday condemned the recent violent clashes between members of the anti-immigrant group, Dudula Movement, and foreign nationals operating businesses in Alexandra.
This after several people were arrested and injured on Monday in the township, when clashes broke out between hawkers, foreign shop owners and the Alexandra Dudula Movement.
The vigilante group, which is not to be confused with Operation Dudula, has been targeting illegal foreign nationals in South Africa, and believes that immigrants are taking scarce jobs from locals.
ALSO READ: Six arrested after violent clashes in Alexandra
Briefing the media in Tshwane on the outcomes of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele spoke out against the violence.
He said no amount of discontent by South Africans justified the violation of people’s rights in the country.
“Cabinet welcomed the speedy intervention by law-enforcement agencies, which resulted in calm being restored in the area and the arrest of several alleged perpetrators of public violence,” Gungubele said.
Gungubele said Cabinet urged communities to rather use peaceful means to resolve disputes and to report all illegal activities to law enforcement agencies.
The minister warned that solving problems through unlawful means could result in “dire outcomes”.
“You cannot say because you have a noble intention, therefore you must be illegal in pursuit of that because the worst can come out of that.
“That’s why we are saying no form of disorder, smashing infrastructure [and] beating people who happen not to belong to your country, will resolve this matter. It can only be resolved within the laws of the country,” Gungubele said.
Gungubele said the draft National Labour Migration Policy (NLMP) and the proposed Employment Services Amendment Bill – released for public comment last month – were part of government’s efforts to address the concerns by South Africans over the employment of foreign nationals in the country.
Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said the NLMP was meant to provide a policy framework and legal basis to regulate the extent to which employers could employ foreign nationals in their establishments while protecting the rights of migrants.
The public has three months to submit their inputs on the policy.
Gungubele said government was aware of some of the underlying factors behind the tensions between locals and foreign nationals.
“Some of the underlying factors in this matter is the economic insecurity by South Africans, and the failure of South African businesses to actually abide with the established protocol targets,” he said.
The minister said various countries on the African continent were trying to protect jobs for their citizens, and South Africa was doing the same thing.
“But South Africa’s approach is of such a nature that we acknowledge that you can’t cut South Africa from the continent. But they’re a certain set of jobs which we think should be protected for South Africans.
“But at the end of the day, the basic issue here is to make sure that… we walk that path with legality,” Gungubele said.
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