NUMSA CONDEMNS XENOPHOBIC ATTACKS
16 April 2015
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) condemns the sporadic xenophobic attacks that have engulfed Durban and Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal and are spreading to some other parts in the country.
What are the first words of the Freedom Charter? “We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.”
We condemn the prominent elites – cabinet members, ethnic leaders and even the son of our president – who have been making disparaging comments about migrant workers and their families this year. It is time to repent, apologise and join the movement against xenophobia.
These attacks have seen our continent’s brothers and sisters – and their young children – displaced from our working class communities. Their rooms, shacks and houses are being taken over, in a context in which we have a long-standing housing crisis. Many of the Durban attacks have been coming from shack settlements where the migrant workers suffer alongside so many poor people.