South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned rising anti-immigrant sentiment in the country which he said echoes South Africa’s apartheid past.
In an open letter to South African citizens, Ramaphosaa also criticised far-right anti-immigrant politicians who exploit people’s grievances for political gain.
Ramaphosa said crime, not migrants, is the common enemy South Africans must work together to defeat. Part of the letter reads:
It is therefore deeply disturbing how the recent incidents of anti-foreigner sentiment in parts of the country echo our apartheid past.
We have seen people being stopped on the street by private citizens and being forced to produce identification to verify their immigration status.
We have seen some political leaders making unscientific statements about immigrants to exploit people’s grievances for political gain.
We have seen marches being led on people’s homes and their dwellings raided for evidence of criminal activity.
We have seen people being attacked, hurt and even killed because of how they looked or because they have a particular accent. This was how the apartheid oppressors operated.
They said some people could only live in certain areas, operate certain businesses or take certain jobs.
Under apartheid, black people were deemed suspects by default and stopped by police when found in so-called white areas.
Black people were forced to produce a dompas and if they could not do so, they were jailed. We cannot allow such injustices to happen again.
The events in the Gauteng township of Diepsloot last week were a tragedy. In the course of a single weekend, seven people were killed, sparking protests.
This loss of life is deplorable, as is the killing of a fellow African from Zimbabwe allegedly at the hands of vigilantes.
Crime is a serious problem in this country. It affects all communities and people are justifiably tired of living in fear of criminals.
Contrary to what is claimed by some anti-immigration groupings and individuals, the perpetrators of crime are both black and white, male and female, foreigner and citizen.
Crime, not migrants, is the common enemy we must work together to defeat.
We cannot defeat crime through incitement, violence, intimidation and vigilantism aimed at foreign nationals, and specifically nationals from other African countries.
We acknowledge many communities are frustrated by the apparent inability of the police to deal with criminals.
Among the measures, we are taking to capacitate the police is the recruitment of an additional 12,000 additional police officers.
We are also re-establishing community policing forums (CPFs) across the country.
These forums bring communities and police representatives together to improve local safety and hold police accountable.
Communities need to work with the police by actively participating in CPFs and reporting suspected acts of criminality.
Even as we intensify our fight against crime, there is no justification for people taking the law into their own hands.
At the same time, we recognise that illegal migration poses a risk to South Africa’s security, stability and economic progress.
Illegal migration affects service delivery and places additional burdens on essential services such as health care and education.
Like any sovereign nation, we have the right to implement policies and measures that guarantee the integrity of our borders, protect the rights of South Africans and provide that all who reside within our borders have a legal right to be here.
Controlling migration is the responsibility of the government.