ANC calls for tolerance toward foreign nationals
Updated | By JacarandaFM News
The African National Congress (ANC) says it has noted with concern the attacks on foreigners in South Africa, particularly in Gauteng.
"Violence has no place in our country where we strive to promote peaceful coexistence between all those who reside within our borders. These are acts of criminality and the ANC calls on our law-enforcement authorities to deal appropriately with those found to be behind these attacks. Similarly, the ANC calls on all South Africans, and in particular, persons in positions of leadership in communities and of political parties, to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric that stokes the flames of intolerance," says ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.
Kodwa says City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba should take some of the blame for the current situation.
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"His pompous call in December 2016 for foreigners to leave 'his city' - declaring that all foreigners in the province were illegal - in fact preceded this spate of attacks on foreigners. The ANC notes the bitter irony of the political opposition the Democratic Alliance (DA) 'condemning xenophobic violence' in Gauteng when it was the reckless statements of Mayor Mashaba that lit the tinderbox of hatred in the first place," says Kodwa.
Kodwa says issues of crime and illegal immigration fall within the purview of our law-enforcement and border management agencies.
"We should not and cannot allow vigilantism to prevail," says Kodwa.
Kodwa says communities concerned at high levels of crime should address their concerns to the relevant law-enforcement authorities, and not take the law into their own hands.
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