The Solidarity Movement has rejected President Jacob Zuma’s alleged remarks that Africans had lived together peacefully until “the others” arrived, as xenophobic. The Movement says that Zuma’s condemnation of xenophobia is merely lip service and that his remarks are actually xenophobic towards white people in South Africa. In addition, President Zuma is clearly trying to incite further racial polarisation.
According to Solidarity Deputy General Secretary Johan Kruger, the Solidarity Movement recently adopted a motion at a recent crisis summit that the Zuma government was primarily responsible for the deterioration of group relations in South Africa. “Zuma’s remarks confirm his obsession with race in all spheres, which confirms that the motion of no confidence in the Zuma government adopted at the summit is justified,” Kruger said.
According to Kruger, Zuma’s distortion and misconception of history is also nothing new; however, it is something that has been addressed decisively as a result of the crisis summit. “Zuma’s deliberate distortion of history forms part of the ANC’s attempts to criminalise Afrikaner history on the basis of the party’s ideological viewpoints. Therefore, the Solidarity Movement and its supporters accept the responsibility to convey their history to the next generation,” Kruger said.
The Solidarity Movement once again calls on all South Africans to promote mutual respect and recognition among communities.
