|
|
South Africa: Attacks in Durban 'Political, Not Xenophobic'
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Business Day (Johannesburg)
22 May 2008
Posted to the web 22 May 2008
David Christianson
Durban
Provincial members of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC) yesterday exchanged harsh words over xenophobic attacks in Durban on Tuesday night.
While there is animosity between the two main parties in the province, local commentators say there is "no evidence yet" that these exchanges are likely to precipitate the sort of communal violence that ravaged the province in the 1980s and 1990s.
On Tuesday night, a group of men from the Dalton Hostel in Umbilo attacked a Nigerian-owned tavern and burnt a car. In a separate incident yesterday, two Congolese were attacked at a taxi rank and told to go back to their country.
Provincial Safety and Security MEC Bheki Cele, a prominent provincial ANC politician, said yesterday that the attacks were not xenophobic but political.
"There was a meeting of the IFP branch in Dalton, it was them who went to the tavern, raided the place and smashed the cars," he said.
IFP provincial chairperson Mntomuhle Khawula said while there had indeed been an IFP branch meeting in the Dalton hostel, the violence had stemmed from "a fight in the tavern, some time later".
He described Dalton as "a multiparty hostel" and said attempts to link the IFP meeting to xenophobic violence were "irresponsible".
|
Khawula said the IFP condemned these sorts of attacks and described Cele's statement as "irresponsible and immature".
well mr editor may you allow me to comment on these xenophobic thing. Well im a zimbabwean but not in south africa. My fellow countrymen went that side trying to run from the ZANUPHOBIA in Zimbabwe but now they have fallen into the XENOPHOBIA trap. Its like they have jumped from the frying pan onto the fire. Help them by stopping these attacks as u know that back home Mugabe's militia is beating people down there.
Do not use the term"Political"this is just a cover for"Tribal"
Xenophobia: what does this word mean? It means chauvinism, racial intolerance, racism, dislike of foreigners.
The antonym (opposite meaning) is “TOLERANCE”. I would say that the acts of South African citizens have displayed more xenophobia than loving tolerance, despite the strenuous denials of the political leadership. Yes, they are criminal acts, but they are XENOPHOBIC criminal acts against BLACK African foreigners in South Africa.
I am certainly not one to brand an entire country xenophobic, but when enough of its citizens gather to pillage, maim and even rape and kill and the vast majority and the entire security apparatus of... [Read Full Text]
I'd like to comment on behalf of all the South Africans who are as upset as I am about these attacks.
People seem so quick to judge, to brand us all. What they need to realise is that not all of us are involved in these killings!
It is our friends, our neighbours, our loved ones who are now been hunted down! Please consider this before labeling us as an entire 'xenophobic' country. Imagine for a moment hearing about the attacks and not knowing if your collegue is going to be at work the next day.
This problem as I... [Read Full Text]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
