Xenophobia Has No Place In Our Democratic Society

Rule of Law

The DA in Gauteng strongly condemns the recent wave of xenophobic violence in our province.

Xenophobia has no place in our democratic society.

It is deeply saddening that two of our Afropolitan cities of Johannesburg and Tshwane have seen attacks targeting foreigners.

We call on all South Africans to respect the rule of law and to refrain from targeting foreigners.

Our country’s history and the freedom we enjoy today was not won in isolation, many African nations played a pivotal role in supporting South Africa’s liberation.

The DA will put forward a motion in the Provincial Legislature on Xenophobia.

 

 

Media Enquiries
 
 
 
John Moodey MPL
DA Gauteng Provincial Leader
082 960 3743
 
Yaseen Carelse
Social Development Cluster Manager
072 721 8613
 
 
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SPEECH BY MR JOHN MOODEY, MPL ON THE MOTION IN REGARD TO 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FREEDOM CHARTER DELIVERED IN THE GAUTENG PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE ON TUESDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2015

On the 26th of June 1955, the Congress of the People adopted the Freedom Charter in Kliptown.

This was after fifty thousand volunteers visited communities countrywide and got their input on what they believed should be included in this historic document.

At its core, the Freedom Charter embodies one main value characterised by its opening demand – The People Shall Govern!

But 60 years later, the ANC has forgotten the voices of those communities and the ideals contained in the Freedom Charter.

The ANC has forgotten the words its former Leader Chief Albert Luthuli: “If we are true to South Africa, then that must be our vision, a vision of South Africa as a fully democratic country.”

The ANC has also forgotten the words of Nelson Mandela during his inaugural address as the first democratically elected President of South Africa that: “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.”

60 years after the adoption of the Freedom Charter and only 20 years after Madiba’s ground breaking speech, South Africa international image has been badly tarnished by a number of headlines including the exit of Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, contrary to a court order demanding his arrest, the xenophobic attacks that broke out in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and our alleged involvement in the FIFA corruption scandal.

Millions of South Africans are also economically oppressed. They have no prospects of getting a decent education and finding a job so they can lift themselves out of poverty.

The ANC likes to claim that they have a good story to tell, but the reality on the ground shows a different story all together.

The 5.2 million South Africans who don’t have a job can tell you what the real story is.

This is why I am telling you today – if the ANC hasn’t brought you freedom envisaged in the Freedom Charter after 21 years of being in power, then they never will.

But I am also here to tell you that you mustn’t give up hope. Change in this country is possible.

This change is what the DA plans to bring to South Africa. It has already starting bringing this change where it governs.

For instance, the City of Cape Town, where the DA governs, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the most equal out of all the metro’s in the country.

The same can be said for Da run Midvaal when compared to the other municipalities in Gauteng that are governed by the ANC.

This is because where the DA governs we are focused on making our values of Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity a reality.

These are the values on which we hope to build a better future for South Africa.

The DA’s vision for South Africa is a country where every child, no matter the circumstances under which he or she is born, has access to the opportunities they need to build a better future for themselves and their families.

Our vision also includes a government that is accountable to the people; a government that is corruption free and is committed to delivering the opportunities people need to empower themselves and to succeed in life.

We stand together with all South Africans who share these values with us and we know that those who do share our values cannot be defined by race or by class. They also do not live in a particular part of the country. The people who share our values are the millions of people, from all backgrounds, who want to work hard, who want to provide for their families and who want to live in a free and safe society.

While the ANC continues to move further and further away from the Freedom Charter and the words of its former leader’s like Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela, the DA will continue to focus on working with all South Africans who share our values to deliver a brighter future for our children.

Change is coming!

“VANDALISING STATUES DOES NOT MAKE US FORGET” BY JOHN MOODEY

South Africa’s past is one of a deeply divided society filled with suffering, injustice and a disregard for human rights.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a moment in history when, in the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation, the victims of apartheid came face to face with their persecutors.

The TRC represented a dialogue on a national scale for peace and reconciliation.

This dialogue between victim and oppressor took place in our public spaces. It aimed to move us from a place of vengeance to one of peace and forgiveness.

But where are we today?

We are destroying 100 year old statues and I fail to understand how this will help us.

Surely we must have greater battles to fight? And surely we must stare the mistakes of our past in the face so that we never repeat them?

Vandalising statues will not unburden us of our history. It only provides fuel to the fires of racial nationalists on our left and right. We saw this in Pretoria with Steve Hofmeyr and Julius Malema’s followers clashing.

But those of us who believe in a non-racial centre know that the only way we will change things in this country is if we unite around shared values.

And to do that we have to talk more as a nation.

We cannot erase our painful past, scars and all.

Instead of vandalising statues maybe it’s time we spoke about the real issues holding us back.

Anger directed at statues makes no sense. Look at our society today!

Our education and health systems remain fundamentally unequal.

A lack of opportunity has left an entire generation of young South Africans without hope.

The lights go off in our homes almost daily and we struggle more each month with higher food, electricity and transport costs.

Our streets are overrun with criminality and our young people are calling foreigners the enemy.

If we had the opportunities to succeed would we really make immigrants the enemy, when they have probably fled even worse circumstances?

This debate needs to focus on the causes behind the anger that people are experiencing.

We have to ask if people are angry at statues, and what they represent, or at the despair they are experiencing more than two decades into freedom.

Vandalising statues detracts from the conversation we should be having. Let’s have a conversation about every person getting the same opportunities to be the best they can be – irrespective of race or social standing.

President Nelson Mandela said: “Let us never be unmindful of the terrible past from which we come – using that memory not as a means to keep us shackled to the past in a negative manner, but rather as a joyous reminder of how far we have come and how much we have achieved.”

Our journey has been a hopeful one, a miracle, a shining example amongst the countries of the world.

As a 21 year old country we must not only learn from our painful history, we must take ownership of our future.

Let us build new statues that celebrate the unsung heroes. And let’s understand the ones we have already.

But most importantly let us now rise up like responsible citizens – let us together take up the challenges of building our country, let us build our Rainbow Nation, in which we all have equal opportunities and prospects of a shared future

 

Media enquiries:

John Moodey MPL

DA Gauteng Provincial Leader

082 960 3743

“SOUTH AFRICA, RECOMMIT TO THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS’ BY MAKASHULE GANA

My friends and fellow South Africans

We have come together here at Constitution Hill this morning to remind our fellow South Africans, our brothers and sisters from Africa, as well as those from the rest of the world, that South Africa is built on respect for the human rights of others, and that each and every person in this country has the right to life.

We have gathered here today to express our deepest regret over events in Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal over the past two weeks, where foreign nationals were brutally attacked and murdered right under our eyes, and the eyes of the world.

Just two days ago, our nation was shocked by front page photos of the senseless murder of Emanuel Sithole – a Mozambican national who came to South Africa in search of a better life.

Since 1994 South Africa has been known as the country of human rights. We became the beacon of hope as the world watched us reconcile our people and build a better future.

We became a place of new beginnings, a refuge from war and persecution – a safe haven for those who have been displaced by famine and war.

Under the late president Nelson Mandela our nation embarked on a historical mission of a united, transformed South Africa, where everybody who lives in it enjoys freedom and prosperity.

We built a nation which prided itself on our respect for our common humanity, and we welcomed our brothers and sisters from Africa with open arms, and shared those ideals with them.

But yet, as we South Africans lived for and spoke about transformation, we failed to transform our society.

Real transformation is about more people getting out of poverty and having the opportunity to live out their individual freedoms.

Real transformation is about giving people living in our townships to find jobs, to start up their own businesses, and to improve their quality of life.

Sadly, that has not happened.

Sadly, the majority of our country’s people are living in hopeless despair, because our townships have not entered the mainstream economy, and life has not become better.

And while our communities view others and their perceived success with suspicion, the question we have to ask is why our townships are still marginalised, and why small businesses have not been developed.

We have to ask why our government has done so little to promote small business development, why there is so much red tape, and why it continues to support job-killing programmes such as e-tolls.

We have to ask what happened to the Township Revitalisation Plan in Gauteng and the R160 million promised for it late last year.

Where are the Economic Incubators and Development Hubs that were supposed to be the game-changers in job creation?

Why has government neglected to support and maintain Gauteng’s Township Industrial Parks, which are run down, lack basic infrastructure, security and cleansing services, and are severely over-crowded?

We have to ask why the only ones who seem to get ahead are those with known political ties, while the rest of us struggle to survive.

President Jacob Zuma announced that government would set aside more than R1 billion to create 100 black industrialists in the manufacturing sector. The questions we have to ask are who those 100 individuals would be, what their ties to the ANC are, and how many real jobs they would create.

Just imagine how many small businesses could have been financed with that R1 billion, and how many jobs that would have created.

My friends,

In the preamble of our Constitution it says that: “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”.

It is our Constitutional duty to stand up and commit ourselves to building a South African society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights for everyone – irrespective of where they are from.

Starting here, today, in front of the building where the custodians of our Constitution go about their business, we have to commit to spreading this message of unity in diversity to our fellow countrymen.

We have to remind each and every South African that we do not tolerate xenophobia, we do not condone the unprecedented violation of people’s fundamental human rights, and we do not discriminate against others because of where they are from.

It begins with me and you, and our declaration that we will not be part of these barbaric acts.

And we must spread this message to our wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, makwapheni, neighbours and brothers not to engage in xenophobic attacks.

We cannot be held ransom by people who commit acts of xenophobia. Let’s isolate these criminals who are doing these acts in our name.

We call on the SAPS Crime Intelligence and State Security services to leave no stone unturned to identify those who are spreading messages of hate in our communities, and to arrest and prosecute them.

We must all do our parts to assist the police in arresting the perpetrators of xenophobic attacks.

We must commit today to addressing instead the economic conditions that fuel the anger in our communities, and to pursue a society based on greater opportunity for all, backed by a capable state.

We are one people, brothers and sisters, all from one continent.

Thank you

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Alex Clinic beefs up security to protect foreign doctors

SecurityJack Bloom DA Constituency Head - Johannesburg East

The Alexandra Clinic has beefed up security to protect its foreign doctors who stayed away over the weekend because of the xenophobic violence, which is why there was no doctor on duty to treat Mozambican Emmanuel Sithole when he was brought there after being attacked on Saturday morning.

I found this out when I visited the clinic yesterday to assess how patients are treated.

Foreign Doctors

The clinic has seven full-time doctors and seven sessional doctors, of whom eight are foreign, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It adds to the tragedy that Sithole did not receive prompt treatment that could possibly have saved his life because a foreign doctor was fearful to be at the clinic where he was first taken.

Many foreign doctors do good work treating South Africans in our hospitals and clinics, but they are also vulnerable to xenophobic violence.

Gauteng Health Department and Alexandra Health Clinic

Alexandra Clinic was founded in 1929 as a charitable enterprise, and for many years was reliant on large corporate donors.

They have increasingly relied on a subsidy from the Gauteng Health Department, and were taken over this month by the department which funds them about R53 million this year, and about R20 million for medicines.

I hope that the department increases their staff and facilities as the clinic is struggling to deal with more than 20 000 patients a month. It is estimated that 507 571 people live in the clinic’s catchment area.

It is really sad that the clinic has to spend extra money on security to keep its staff safe from xenophobic violence.

 

Media enquiries:

Jack Bloom MPL

DA Constituency Head – Johannesburg East

082 333 4222

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Delays in Township Economic Development Fan the Flames of Xenophobia

Gauteng Provincial Government

The Gauteng Provincial Government’s slow response to the violent and inhumane acts of xenophobia that swept across the province over the past week is an indictment on Premier David Makhura and his executive.

While thousands of foreign nationals live in fear for their lives – and horrific scenes of murder have played out on the province’s streets, the provincial government has proven to be less than caring for the well-being of all residents in Gauteng.

XeNOphobia

Xenophobia, and the deplorable acts which have followed from this most recent outbreak, is symptomatic of a government that has failed to live up to the needs of people.

High rates of unemployment, slow economic growth and a limp-wristed approach to policy implementation resulted in people looking for easy targets, in the form of foreign nationals, to express their discontent.

History has shown us that in tough economic times, people lash out and find scapegoats for the short-comings of inherently flawed systems.

Premier Makhura’s Township Revitalisation Plan

The question here is what happened to Premier Makhura’s noble plans for township economic development?

All seems to have gone quiet around the Township Revitalisation Plan. Similarly, all is mum on the roll out of Economic Incubators and Development Hubs touted as future game-changers in job creation.

The recent spate of xenophobia has not only seen the unnecessary loss of life that cast a shadow of shame across Gauteng and South Africa as a whole, but shows how the premier has failed the people of Gauteng.

Since January xenophobic tensions have been simmering in Gauteng’s townships, and the premier and the provincial government should have stepped in to defuse the situation through education and sensitisation programmes, as well as to physically get government economic interventions under way.

Now, more than ever, are the citizens of this province crying out for government actions that speak louder than words, and Premier Makhura must be seen to be taking the lead – and not wait for national government to make the first move.

 

Media enquiries

John Moodey MPL

DA Gauteng Provincial Leader

082 960 3743

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Criminals Behind Xenophobic Violence in Malvern

This morning I visited the scene in Jules Street, Malvern in east Johannesburg where a mob stirred up by xenophobic sentiments caused damage to a number of shops last night.

Criminals Behind Xenophobic ViolenceJack Bloom DA Constituency Head - Johannesburg East

Most people I spoke to thought that criminals were behind the violence as only one foreign-owned shop was targeted, and windows were smashed at some local shops.

Damaged shops included an automotive supplies store and an electrical wholesaler (photos available on request).

Pre-planned Violence

The violence was pre-planned as the police had received a tip-off and on special patrol in the area.

The police acted well in stopping the violence and arresting 12 people.

Prompt and severe action must be taken against criminals who stir up xenophobia for their own nefarious ends.

I commend the members of the public who tipped off the police so that they could prevent a nasty situation getting out of hand.

We need more such cooperation in stopping this heinous crime.

 

Media enquiries:

Jack Bloom MPL

DA Constituency Head – Johannesburg East

082 333 4222

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Gauteng Premier Must Take a Stand Against Xenophobic Attacks

The DA calls on Gauteng Premier David Makhura and provincial ANC leaders to publicly stand up and condemn attacks on foreign residents in the country, before it spirals out of control.Solly Msimanga DA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson

Following days of xenophobic violence in KwaZulu-Natal, foreign business owners in the Johannesburg CBD yesterday fell victim to widespread and seemingly coordinated attacks.

According to local reports, attacks are currently under way in KwaThema, near Springs on the East Rand.

Coordinated Xenophobic Attacks

Of particular concern is the seemingly coordinated nature of the attacks and almost total lack of police intelligence to prevent it from occurring.

South Africa prides itself on a Constitution founded on a shared respect for the human rights of all persons, and it is up to each and every one of us to strongly condemn acts of violence against our fellow humans simply because of their origin.

While the cause of the xenophobic violence may have been fanned by remarks of certain senior leaders, Premier Makhura, his Cabinet and the provincial ANC as a collective must take a stand, and condemn xenophobia in the strongest terms.

South Africa Owes those Nations

Premier Makhura, many African nations opened their arms to the ANC during the struggle for a free and democratic South Africa.

Those nations trained, fed, clothed, sheltered and provided financial support to the liberation struggle at great peril to themselves – and South Africans today owe those nations and their people a great debt of gratitude.

It is the duty of every South African to stand up against xenophobia and build a South Africa where everyone feels safe and at home.

To this end, the DA calls on the Premier to liaise closely with the police and municipal law enforcement agencies and do everything possible together to prevent further looting and violence.

 

Media enquiries:

Solly Msimanga MPL

DA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson

060 558 8308

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