CSOs confront Zuma over Xenophobia

The KwaZulu-Natal Civil Society Coalition (KZNCSOC) has written a letter to South African President Jacob Zuma expressing their displeasure of the xenophobia which started in Durban and is now spreading to KZN.

"KZNCSOC notes with great concerns about the shameless and senseless attacks against fellow Africans. It is regrettable that our beautiful country is being currently being torn apart by these attacks that have started some time ago in Gauteng province and are now escalating to other parts of the country such as in Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal," wrote Paul Kariuki, Interim Chairperson, KZNCSO.

He said it has now unfortunately reared its ugly head in KwaZulu-Natal.

"The Democracy Development Program (DDP), a founder member from the KwaZulu-Natal Civil Society Organisation Coalition (KZNCSOC), visited the Isipingo camp, a suburb on the Durban South Coast, where more than 250 African nationals from five different countries, have been given temporary shelter as results of these attacks," he said. "It is shameful that as South Africans we've quickly forgotten about the principles of Ubuntu that we espouse and degenerated to a society that is no longer driven by our values of compassion and oneness as citizens of the continent."

Kariuki said the KZNCSOC, strongly condemn these attacks and any actions that divides people irrespective of their nationality, ethnicity, language, culture, gender and race.

"This is inconsistent with the ‘Founding Provisions' as contained in the Constitution of S.A. (Act 108 of 1996). As a civil society coalition, we strongly detest every action that weakens social cohesion efforts and promote fear in the society," he said.

"These actions ultimately undermining our hard earned struggle for liberty, freedom and democracy."

He said they would like to pass a message of a collective response as citizens in upholding human dignity and freedom and to use mechanisms of collective engagement, rather than violence.

"These mechanisms are contained in Chapter 9 of the Constitution (commonly referred to as Chapter 9 Institutions), which should be actively engaged in resolving these kinds of tensions," he said.

"The violent actions only achieve a polarised society and should not be encouraged."

He said transformative dialogues are urgently needed so that the root causes of such aggression can be unearthed and collective response be established.

"Through such dialogues, unnecessary lives and livelihoods will not be lost," Kariuki said.

"All relevant stakeholders, such as political parties, government departments, civil society organisations and citizens need to come together and explore possibilities of co-creating sustainable communities through peaceful co-existence."

He said "the KZNCSOC kindly urges your office to issue a statement about this situation and take decisive measures against all inciters of violence and condemn public every form of hate speech."