Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) has claimed that it warned the South African government about impending xenophobic attacks before they exploded into full-scale unrest.
Gabriel Shumba, the executive director of ZEF and award winning human rights lawyer, said: “We warned the government before that foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, could be killed in these xenophobic attacks.”Â
He said ZEF had sought an audience with the Minister of Home Affairs Charles Ncqakula and the meeting did not take off as it failed to materialise after the department did not respond, while the Office of the Police Commissioner also failed to heed the calls for a meeting on the looming xenophobic attacks on African nationals (foreigners).
In between, Shumba said, they had contacted the Minister of Safety and
Security, which later said such an issue should be addressed by the Police
Commissioner.
“The attacks could have been prevented. Initially, we sent a letter to the Minister of Safety and Security, which they did not acknowledge. After that, we also wrote to the Minister of Home Affairs and telephoned them, but they also did not grant us an audience,” Shumba added.
Shumba claimed to have written several letters to both the Safety and Security Minister Charles Ncqukula and his Home Affairs counterpart, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula alerting them to the killings that targetted foreigners in Mamelodi, Soshanguve and Mabopane, though on a smaller scale. Â
Addressing foreign journalists on Tuesday at Orion Devonshire Hotel at a press conference organised for Zimbabwe’s Political Impasse Amidst Violence, Shumba said his organisation tried all it could to engage the government over the impending disaster, but were ignored. Â
“I have personally written several letters to the minister of Safety and State Security, Home Affairs as well as the Police Commissioner over the looming xenophobic attacks since 2007.
“We came to resort to solution finding before the problem escalated following killings of Zimbabweans in Mamelodi, Soshanguve, Mabopane, Atteridgeville and other surrounding areas, but the government did not heed our calls. They kept promising to meet with us, but never did so.
“The Home Affairs completely ignored even acknowledging receipt of our letters except for the Safety and Security department,” said Shumba. Â
He said if the government had heeded their calls, the bloodshed that was witnessed in rent weeks of xenophobic violence on foreigners could not have been experienced on a wider scale. Â
Over 63 foreign nationals, all of them Africans, were killed with more than 30 000 others displaced from their residences, while over 3 000 were injured in the attacks. Â
Police arrested more than 1 000 people for their part in the violence.—CAJ News.
Post published in: News