Debate on reported incidents of violence and alleged xenophobia attacks in Alexandra and other areas

Things don't simply just happen. People don't get up one morning and decide today we are going to be xenophobic. No - it does not work that way. There is a causal connection between things.

Today everybody is condemning these xenophobic attacks and rightly so. The FF Plus also deplores these actions. But suddenly the government is taken aback and astounded. How could this happen? Well maybe the policy failure chickens of the ANC are coming home to roost one after the other. I have already said there is a causal link.

Let me name 4 policy failures by this ANC government which the FF Plus believes play a direct role in this:

1. Silent diplomacy with Zimbabwe since 2000 - Silent diplomacy which eventually leads to tacit approval and implied support for what Mugabe and ZANU PF are doing. The effect of this is that more than 3 million Zimbabweans have fled from Mugabe's tyrannical rule to SA;

2. The ineffective Departments of Home Affairs and Safety and Security which are incapable of securing South Africa's borders and processing refugees;

3. Racially motivated equity labour laws that make it very difficult for small and medium enterprises to flourish and employ as many people as possible. This would have assisted with growth and job opportunities for all and;

4. Extremely poor service delivery at ground level by inept ANC ruled local councils which are marred by corruption and infighting.

All these factors are conducive for xenophobic outbursts which we have seen of late.

I want to predict that not one of the policy failures I have mentioned will be accepted as valid reasons by the ANC government in their investigation. It will be blamed on criminals or even worse, opposition parties, with alleged ulterior motives. The Zimbabwe crisis is now escalating beyond Zimbabwe into the southern African region. That is the real cause of the current xenophobic outbursts. It will not go away - if we address the Zimbabwe issue - Zimbabweans will be only too happy to return to their own country.

This is the prepared text of a speech by Freedom Front Plus Chief Whip, Dr. Corné Mulder, in the debate on xenophobia in the National Assembly, Cape Town, May 16 2008