Durban - A high-level government delegation accompanied Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba to apologise to King Goodwill Zwelithini in Durban on Monday for reprimanding the king about his remarks about foreigners.
The Mercury learnt on Monday night that Gigaba had backed down after the king expressed his displeasure about the minister’s remarks.
However, Mayihlome Tshwete, spokesman for Gigaba, said the meeting was not about an apology.
He said it was requested by the security cluster ministers with the plan to restore stability in the province. They wanted to establish what everybody, including the king, could do to restore peace.
Tshwete said the meeting was not about an apology, because people who are being displaced are not concerned about personalities, or about who said what to whom.
“People out there are dying, which is what prompted the security cluster to come together to meet with the king.”
Addressing foreigners who had been displaced by xenophobic attacks last week, Gigaba had said leaders - referring to the king without naming him - should refrain from using inflammatory language. He was apparently referring to reports that the king had called for foreigners to leave the country.
Gigaba, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, State Security Minister David Mahlobo and Premier Senzo Mchunu met the king at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Umhlanga on Monday night.
The king arrived at the hotel at about 4pm. Gigaba and his team arrived about 6.30pm and proceeded to a hotel room to meet the king. The meeting went on until late in the night.
During an induction of a traditional leader in KwaMaphumulo on Saturday, the king had said in reference to Gigaba, whom he did not name: “Labaholi bangakhulumi engathi salusa ndawonye. (These leaders should not act as if we herded cattle together.)
“I ask political leaders that we should respect each other. Democracy should not make them feel like demigods.”
Meanwhile, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said that to effectively deal with the escalating xenophobic attacks in Durban, political leaders should hold public meetings and rallies across the country to educate South Africans about the importance of living peacefully with foreigners.
Buthelezi had already started public talks against xenophobia. Last week he visited camps full of foreigners who had been forced to leave their communities. At the weekend he addressed a gathering on the South Coast and spoke out against the incidents.
At a media briefing on Monday, soon after he received a Peace, Stability and Good Governance award in Durban, Buthelezi said if politicians did not tackle attacks against foreigners the situation would get out of control.
“Government leaders and leaders not in government have an obligation. The extent to which this thing has gone requires us to hold huge rallies all over the country,” he said.
Buthelezi received the award from the UN-aligned Presidential Outreach Organisation in recognition of his peace initiative between the IFP and ANC.
He said the xenophobic attacks had shamed the country.
The Mercury