Cape Town - The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town on Thursday added his voice to calls for an end to the current outbreak of xenophobic violence in parts of South Africa.
“Foreigners are God’s people too and deserve the dignity and protection we enjoy,” Thabo Makgoba said in a statement, warning against the “the spectre of revenge attacks” from African migrants living in the country.
“After the attacks on African migrants in South Africa were ended in 2008, we hoped we had seen the end of xenophobic conflict in our country,” he said.
“But more than five years on, the tension has erupted again, people are dying again and now we are seeing the spectre of revenge attacks from migrants. Foreigners are God’s people too and deserve the dignity and protection we enjoy. This is not ubuntu, it is painful and deeply regrettable.
“I join my colleagues in the churches and other religious leaders in calling for an end to the attacks, in calling for restraint on all sides and in sending our condolences to the families of those who have died.”
Several people have been killed in Durban where locals have clashed with foreign nationals amid widespread looting, while parts of the Johannesburg CBD have also seen skirmishes and sporadic incidents of looting.
ANA