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Ramaphosa Asks South Africans To Tolerate Migrants

  President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday urged South Africans to be tolerant of migrants following recent xenophobic violence, as hundreds of refugees camped outside UN … Continue reading Ramaphosa Asks South Africans To Tolerate Migrants


File photo: President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa addresses a public meeting, where the South African government is returning land lost during Apartheid to the descendants of the original inhabitants of rural areas around Ebenhaeser, on March 23, 2019, in the Western Cape Province, about 350km from Cape Town. This land restitution is one of the largest to have taken place in the province, with a value of more than R350 000 000(US$25 000 000). Imbalanve of land ownership in South Africa due to colonial and Apartheid policies remains a major point of tension in the country, and will affect the upcoming elections on May 8, 2019. RODGER BOSCH / AFP
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the crowd gathered in Makhanda, Eastern Cape Province on April 27, 2019.  Michele Spatari / AFP

 

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday urged South Africans to be tolerant of migrants following recent xenophobic violence, as hundreds of refugees camped outside UN offices demanding to be removed the country, fearing for their safety.  

“We are insisting there needs to be more tolerance, there needs to be more understanding,” Ramaphosa told the upper house of parliament in Cape Town.

In August and early September, the country saw a wave of xenophobic violence that left 10 South Africans and two migrants dead when mobs descended on foreign-owned stores in and around Johannesburg, destroying properties and looting.

“South Africans are not xenophobic, we are not,” he said, describing the recent unrest as having been “driven by criminality”.

Ramaphosa said while migration was a challenge, with locals and foreigners competing for limited resources and services, “there should never be any form of prejudice that will be exercised or perpetrated against others.”

He answered questions in parliament, a few office blocks away from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices, where up to 300 foreigners staged a sit-in, demanding to be taken out of South Africa saying they were no longer safe.

They vowed not to leave the premises until the UNHCR addressed their concerns.

As Africa’s most industrialised nation, South Africa is a magnet for economic migrants searching for better job prospects and asylum seekers looking for safety.

But the migrants gathered outside the UNHCR offices insist the country is no longer safe for them.

In a statement it assured the refugees and asylum seekers that it was “working closely” with South African authorities to continue providing protection through issuing appropriate identity documentation, facilitating access to health care, education and employment opportunities.

South Africa is hosting close to 268,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia, among others according to the UNHCR.

“As South Africans we should be embracing one another and indeed we should also embrace foreign nationals,” Ramaphosa added.