BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Hailing South Africa’s action plan unveiled on Monday to combat xenophobia which reared its ugly head again last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said perpetrators should be held to account.
Reports indicated that violent attacks targeting Zimbabweans and other nationals resurfaced in Durban, KwaZulu Natal and some parts of the Limpopo province last week, leaving three people dead and a trail of destruction of property.
On Monday, the South African government launched an action plan to fight xenophobia, racism and ethnic intolerance in a move hailed by the HRW as necessary to protect lives and property.
“The national action plan is a welcome development, indicating the South African government’s intent to fight xenophobia, racism and all forms of discrimination and prejudice. Now it should fully implement that plan and work to stem the dangerous tides of intolerance,” Dewa Mavhinga, the HRW Southern Africa director said in a statement.
The five-year plan seeks to, among other issues, raise awareness against the vice, improve access to justice and better protection for victims and increase anti-discrimination efforts to help achieve greater equality and justice.
In 2015, Zimbabwe had to repatriate thousands of its citizens in the aftermath of xenophobic attacks in South Africa after the Zulu ethnic group King Goodwill Zwelithini criticised the presence of immigrants in the country.
“Inflammatory public statements — such as those made by Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba in December 2016, blaming illegal immigrants for crimes and calling on them to leave the city — should be strongly condemned. As South Africa prepares for national elections on May 8, 2019, political leaders should not incite xenophobic violence or promote discrimination,” Mavhinga added.
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He, however, said the action plan failed to address South Africa’s lack of accountability for the vice.
“But the action plan fails to address a key challenge fuelling the problem: South Africa’s lack of accountability for xenophobic crimes. Virtually, no one has been convicted for past outbreaks of xenophobic violence, including the Durban violence of April 2015 that displaced thousands of foreign nationals and the 2008 attacks on foreigners, which resulted in the deaths of more than 60 people,” he said.
“To effectively combat xenophobia, the government and police need to publicly acknowledge attacks on foreign nationals and their property as xenophobic and take decisive action. This should include ensuring proper police investigations of xenophobic crimes and holding those responsible to account.”
In 2015, State columnist Nathaniel Manheru, who was then believed to be former President Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba, torched a storm when he said Zimbabweans based in South Africa who change their names and twist tongues to “ape South African accent” had been awakened by the xenophobic violence to “embrace Zimbabwe-like true nationalists”.
The columnist said the victims of the xenophobic attacks invited violence against themselves by fleeing Zimbabwe and also singled out Ndebele-language speakers he accused of falsely believing that they belonged to that country by ancestry.
