Durban - Political leaders and civil society groups said King Goodwill Zwelithini’s message on Monday, condemning the violence against foreigners, was clear, but there was more work to be done.
Speaking at the imbizo at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, Zwelithini declared war against xenophobic attacks and called for another imbizo to take place soon, at which locals and foreigners from African countries would sign an accord to restore lasting peace.
The king said he had assigned Premier Senzo Mchunu to arrange a meeting between himself, traditional leaders and diplomats from African countries whose citizens had been affected by xenophobia, to draft terms of reference for the peace accord.
“In three months here, in this stadium, there will be another imbizo where locals and foreigners will meet to sign this peace accord,” he said.
Contrary to the expectations of most members of the Zulu regiments present, who anticipated that the king would call for the deportation of foreigners, he instructed traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal to lead a campaign to protect foreigners from criminal acts.
“The war which I am going to declare today is not the one that you are expecting. It is to protect all foreigners regardless of their origins.
“Izinduna and amakhosi (all traditional leaders), I instruct you to be my ears on the ground and protect people, regardless of their origins,” he said to the applause of the people.
There had been seven murders in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng as a result of attacks on foreigners.
The king said he was concerned about information that there was also an attempt to create a rift between Zulus and the Indian community.
He said by calling an imbizo he did not mean that the Zulus were perpetrators of the violence. He said since the Zulus were the biggest nation in the country they could help to defuse the violence, which was threatening to reduce the country to ashes and humiliate the Zulu kingdom and South Africa.
“I am happy that the government is concurring with me when I say there is a third force behind this violence. It is not a secret that those who want to create fear are using the name of the Zulus and the kingdom,” he said.
He said there was a conspiracy to force African people to fight among themselves.
“You all heard reports that the Zulus were loaded in trains and travelling to kill. This is an attempt to tarnish the Zulu nation in the world and to create conflict between South Africans and other African nations.
“This conspiracy reminds us of the 1990s when it was alleged that Zulus were killing people in trains, but it was later revealed that there was a third force to create conflict between black political parties (ANC and IFP). During that violence I lost 20 000 people,” he said.
Without taking responsibility for his speech in Pongola late last month in which he called for the deportation of foreigners, the king challenged the SA Human Rights Commission to finalise the investigation against him, and also investigate the media’s role in “inciting” violence against foreigners.
The king said that in Pongola he had called for police to enforce border controls, but said the media chose to ignore that part.
“I request the commission to broaden its investigation to cover the role of the media in inciting violence against foreigners, especially Africans.
“I believe that South African media should submit itself for investigation if it has nothing to hide,” he said.
In his Pongola speech he called for the deportation of foreigners, accusing them of changing the culture of the country and taking economic opportunities away from locals. That speech has been widely condemned and linked to the violence which started in Durban two weeks ago.
The king’s traditional minister, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said criminals had used the king as an excuse when committing criminal acts.
He defended the king, saying that his Pongola speech had been misquoted.
He said South Africa was living with a culture of xenophobia and “it takes little to spark violence against foreign nationals”.
“This is shameful to us all, but it is a truth we must acknowledge if we are to arrest the violence.”
Buthelezi called on traditional leaders to lead in the fight against xenophobia.
“Regardless of why it started or what sparked the flames this time, it is our responsibility to put out the fire. We need to send a clear and unambiguous message to our people. They must know where we stand and what we expect them to do. Our message must be unanimous,” he said.
Inkatha Freedom Party chairman Blessed Gwala said: “It was a clear message from his majesty because he was misrepresented.
“The king has spoken and the people heard the message, but now the government needs to address the people who are agitating this violence, because we have the intelligence and I do not think they do not know these people,” he said.
Gwala said the government showed no interest in working with other political parties to calm the violence.
He called on South Africans “to get to their senses” because there were South African business people and students who were outside the country, and could be vulnerable.
DA leader in KZN, Sizwe Mchunu, said he could only hope that the king’s message was understood.
He asked that leaders exercise caution when addressing people.
“We request leaders in KZN to be responsible in their utterances because it is our own utterances that could be misinterpreted and therefore incite violence or intolerance in any form or shape.
“It has been very clear this time around that we, as leaders, must give clear statements to ensure we do not incite violence.”
Bishop Rubin Philip, a convener of the church leaders in KZN, who spoke at the stadium on Monday, said: “The message was clear. He came out quite strongly and said that we should condemn violence and not participate in any way in acts of violence.
“I think he gave a very clear instruction to the traditional leaders to return to their communities and to convey his message through them and to try to work towards building relationships in the communities.”
Philip said he was pleased that the imbizo was held and hoped this would calm the violence and bring peace to KZN.
Congolese leader Shako Kumina was happy that the king had addressed the people “because we regard him as the father for Africans, not just South Africans”.
“We are now hoping that the people will be calm and we will be able to go back to our houses and our children will be able to go back to school.
“We ask the government to make sure we are safe,” Kumina said. Ahmed Mohamed, a leader of the Somali citizens, said some of his countrymen listened to the king and hoped for peace.
“We thank him for coming out and speaking to the people. Our main interest is now in the integration and social cohesion between the South Africans and us,” he said.
SAHRC spokesman Isaac Mangena said the commission would not respond to the message by the king.
“We have an investigation going on and we cannot really say if the message was clear.”
The Mercury