SACP STATEMENT ON ACTS OF VIOLENCE DIRECTED AT FOREIGN NATIONALS

Our country has come to the conclusion of hosting a successful FIFA 2010 World Cup. During this month there has been many positive achievements on the ground within our country. The South African government and the people of SA have united, like never before, to host hundreds of thousands of international guests from the African continent and other parts of the world.

The key challenge now will be how to build on the momentum and experience gained. At this stage, after this successful hosting of the World Cup the SACP wishes to strongly condemn the threats and actual acts of violence against foreign nationals. These are no ‘xenophobic' attacks (undesirable as they are as well), but acts of criminality to loot and destabilise our communities to provide cover for these criminals. This criminal element is hell-bent on manipulating some of the real problems and challenges facing our communities.

The enemy is not our brothers and sisters from the rest of the continent, but the capitalist system that continues to breeds underdevelopment.

We must build on the momentum garnered through the hosting of the World Cup by focusing our collective energies on the challenges we all face as a nation - jobs, transforming health-care and education, rural development, and fighting the scourge of crime and corruption.

We call on our structures across the alliance and other progressive organisations, including those in the opposition, to unite and mobilise against these fringe criminal elements in our communities. Our structures must equally take a lead in providing leadership in dealing with genuine service delivery crises, fighting corruption and all other obstacles to bettering the lives of our people.

We also call upon all our communities to work together with law enforcement agencies in exposing and dealing with this criminality.

Statement issued by the SACP, July 13 2010

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