SA: Appeal for probe into racist attacks

  1. Posted on Monday 5 January 2009 - 12:14
    Justice Zhou
    Image of Justice Zhou
    Justice Zhou, AfricaNews reporter in Johannesburg, South Africa
    The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CORMSA) has petitioned the South African Human Rights Commission to hold an inquiry into the May 2008 xenophobic violence which left 62 foreigners dead and thousands others displaced. CORMSA believes the carnage was politically aroused.
    immigrant from Zimbabwe in South Africa_Elles van Gelder
    Duncan Breen, a spokesperson for the refugees and migrants watchdog, said local leaders were actively involved in fuelling the violence. "Therefore their involvement in strategies to address xenophobia is of grave concern. Unless these leaders are held accountable, they will continue to base their campaigns and positions on an agenda of hate and violence," he said.

    The reluctance by government to probe the root of the attacks on immigrants is cause for the concern. Breen queries that even at the time of the brutal riots, the police lacked urgency to quell the mob attackers.

    January 15, 2009 has been set as the deadline for the SAHRC to respond to the request. The showdown comes hardly two months after the group withdrew a Constitutional Case in which it sued the government for its careless manner at handling the temporary safety camps that sheltered xenophobia victims. The camps have since been shut down.


    As the country braces for national polls in 2009, the organization is worried that if no inquest is held and culprits punished, the same politicians may base their campaigns on hatred of foreigners, sparking renewed purges.

    “Unless a thorough post-mortem is conducted and those behind the attacks are held to account, we are all at risk,” said Breen.

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