Please find attached a soundbite by John Steenhuisen MP.
I have today written to the Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) asking him to intervene in the escalating race baiting and racial scapegoating in KwaZulu-Natal in the wake of the unrest and looting, and specifically to take action against the organisers of a planned EFF march on 5 August aimed at whipping up anti-Indian sentiment.
What is evident from the material designed to promote what the EFF calls their “March to Phoenix Against Racist Indians” is that they are hoping to stir up racial tensions and inflame violence between black and Indian residents. This kind of destructive racial provocation is all the EFF offer in the way of political discourse, and it cannot be allowed to take hold.
As was the case in the build up to the looting and violence three weeks ago, starting with the gathering at Nkandla on the eve of former President Jacob Zuma’s arrest, it is clear that the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the province neither can nor will step in to prevent the threat of violence.
The vast majority of South Africans want nothing to do with this ANC factional battle, and they certainly do not want to get caught up in any violence. It is therefore imperative that this is stopped before it turns into a full-blown race war. I believe it is within the SAHRC’s mandate to step in and stop this march. And if they feel they do not have the power to do so by themselves they must seek an urgent interdict from the court.
Communities across KZN have already suffered tremendous trauma at the hands of criminals doing the bidding of ANC factions. They are hurt and vulnerable and they need the state’s protection against the instigators of racial violence. They certainly cannot become the scapegoats for what happened in the province, and they cannot become collateral damage in the EFF’s desperate quest for relevance.