Johannesburg – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Monday rejected as "fake" a weekend statement that called for the "swift removal" of foreign nationals from the City of Johannesburg.
This comes after a threatening message purporting to be from the EFF began circulating on social media saying that foreign nationals should be driven out of the country, especially in Pretoria and Johannesburg CBD.
The viral message said a section of South Africans were planning a demonstration on February 24 against the influx of foreign nationals who they accused of taking their jobs.
However, in a statement the EFF said such statement was not issued through its official channels and it did not convey its position on the issue of foreign nationals. "The statement calls for the ostracism of foreign nationals is not only fake but it contradicts everything EFF stands for," the EFF said.
"The EFF believes that the City of Johannesburg belongs to all Africans, as does the whole of South Africa." The EFF called on its members and the entire society to be careful of fake accounts and fake news.
"Both Twitter and Facebook accounts of the EFF have been authenticated. EFF statements are therefore released to the public through these outlets together with the official EFF website."
Foreign national organisations have already sent out emails and SMSes to their members, warning and urging them to stay alert and be vigilant against any threat.
"Flyers circulating online indicate that South Africans are fed up with their government granting asylum seekers status," read the circulated statement. "They singled out Zimbabweans, Nigerians and Pakistanis as major problems saying there was no war in these countries."
In April 2015 during yet another xenophobia outbreak, the EFF called on South Africans to stop the killings saying that foreigners were not the enemy.
The party said the people were poor due to the failed policies of government that subjected people subjected to landlessness and high levels of unemployment.
This was during an upsurge in xenophobic attacks that began Durban and spread to Johannesburg after Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini was quoted as saying that foreigners should "go back to their countries".
Last year, The South African Human Rights Commission found that Zwelithini's comments on migrants were not hate speech after it was alleged that the king's remarks incited the violent attacks against foreigners. In May 2008, a series of xenophobic attacks left 62 people dead across the country.