Parliament – Leaders who make statements which incite violence against foreigners should not be allowed to get away with it, DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane said on Thursday.
Addressing the National Assembly shortly after President Jacob Zuma made a statement on the xenophobic violence which has swept across KwaZulu-Natal and has since spread to Gauteng, Maimane said there were people in “powerful positions shifting blame”.
He was referring to reported statements by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini shortly before the violence broke out in which he is reported to have called for foreigners to leave the country.
“Our humanity..is slipping away from us. We cannot stand by while fellow human beings are being tortured and murdered,” said Maimane.
“There can be no justification for human beings inflicting pain on other human beings.”
Maimane said the root of the problem was unemployment.
He added that it was wrong to blame foreign nationals who were being “unfairly vilified”.
ANA