Durban - King Goodwill Zwelithini’s call for foreigners to be deported could have landed him in hot water with the SA Human Rights Commission, which is looking to see if his speech could encourage xenophobic attacks.
Commission spokesman Isaac Mangena phoned The Mercury on Monday, requesting a copy of the king’s speech in which he called for the government to send foreigners back home.
The king delivered the speech during a moral regeneration event in Phongola at the weekend.
Mangena said the commission was concerned because it was currently dealing with xenophobic attacks around the country.
He said later that his office had received a tape recording of the speech, and the commissioners were listening to it. “We will make a decision (Tuesday) on whether there is preliminary evidence that warrants an investigation.
“We have also received one request for us to investigate the utterances by the king. We have written back to the complainants requesting them to lodge a formal complaint.”
In his speech, the king said that foreigners were taking advantage of poorly behaved and undisciplined locals who did not appreciate their hard-won freedom. He said locals did not obey the law, were thieves, child rapists and too lazy to plough fields.
He said that foreigners were changing the nature of South African society.
“When you walk in the street you cannot recognise a shop that you used to know because it has been taken over by foreigners, who then mess it up by hanging amanikiniki (shabby goods).”
On the issue of locals being too lazy to plough fields, Mandla Mthembu, president of the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa, said the statement was untrue and did not address the reason why black South Africans were not involved in agriculture.
“People were moved from agriculture and redirected to industrialisation, where a person has to look for a job to support his family.
“When you say people have to go back to farming, who are you talking to, because young people never saw their fathers ploughing.”
The king’s spokesman, Prince Mbonisi Zulu, said the commission was free to approach the royal family for clarity.
“I don’t understand what is it that they want to investigate. The fact is that there are people from other countries in South Africa, and the concern is there,” he said.
He added that the speech would not cause any xenophobic attacks.
Premier Senzo Mchunu’s office said South Africa was a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
“SA is also a signatory to the Constitutive Act of the AU. Under these international statutes, our obligations are to observe what we have committed ourselves to.”
The commission will issue a statement on Tuesday.
The Mercury