Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Leslie Mbula, has hailed the role the church is playing in trying to stop the xenophobic violence that has been raging in some South African townships over the past few months, claiming several lives with hundreds of foreigners being displaced.
Mr. Mbula has also thanked the South African government for coming out strongly against these xenophobic attacks on foreigners which started early this year in some Tshawane townships and informal settlements (shanties) and later spread to similar area in Johannesburg.
The High Commisioner was speaking when Pastor Thembelani Jentile of Mamelodi Baptist Church in Tshwane paid a courtesy call on him on Friday.
This is contained in a press statement made available to ZANIS by Second Secretary for Press at the Zambian mission in Pretoria Philip Chirwa.
Mamelodi is one of the areas where early this year several foreigners were killed and others had their shacks burnt by rampaging locals who accused them of stealing their jobs and being involved in crime.
The foreigners involved are mostly those from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Somalia.
There has been no report of any Zambian being affected by these attacks.
Mr. Mbula said what was happening in South Africa created an erroneous impression that though independent politically, Africans could not live in harmony.
“Having suffered so much under the apartheid era, South Africans need to set an example by showing the world that they are able to live in harmony with others,” Mr Mbula said.
He was happy that high-profile South African leaders like ANC president, Jacob Zuma, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs. Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, have recently come out strongly in condemning the xenophobia attacks.
The High Commissioner said it was important that both the party and govenment leadership in South Africa talked to the leaders of the communities involved in xenophobic attacks so that they (the communities) realized the importance of living in harmony with immigrants.
“Whether it’s Mamelodi, Alexandra or any othe community, the fact is that there are leaders there. We need to talk to these community leaders so that they sensitise their people about the evils of xenophobia,” he said.
And in reply, Pastor Jentile, a South African, said that the church felt sad about what was going on in the country at the moment. It was for this reason, he said, that the Mamelodi Baptist church would soon host a consultative conference involving all the stakeholders in the current conflict with a view to putting an end to xenophobic attacks.
Last Thursday, Mr. Zuma condemned the xenophobic attacks that have characterised tghe violence in Alexandra township north of Johannesburg since the beginning of the week, noting that xenophobia (hatred for foreigners) had no place in a democratic, free South Africa.
Addressing a graduation ceremony at the University of Zululand, of which he is chancellor, in Kwazulu-Natal, Mr. Zuma declared: “Our people should avoid taking out their frustrations owing to unemployment or crime on immigrants. It is Alexandra today and could be another area tomorrow, if we do not deal with the matter now.”
Menwhile, Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela, a senior member of the ANC National Executive Committee, apologised to foreigners who were recently attacked in Alexandra township, where several people were killed and hundreds others forced out of their homes.
“We are sorry. Please forgive us. It is not South African to do this, South Africans are not like this,” she sid, adding that her apology was aimed at the homeless victims and those who were killed or injured in the violent attacks in the township,” she said.
And Mrs. Mapisa-Nqukula declared that her department (ministry) will not deport foreigners just because they were being attacked.
“We will integrate the displaced people back into the comunity. We cannot deport them back to their countries just because they are vulnerable,” she told the local press after a tour of Alexandra.