‘Attacks Are Xenophobic’ – Catholic Bishops In South Africa Counter Gov’t

South African Catholic bishops have faulted authorities in the country over their claim that recent attacks on foreigners in the country were not xenophobic.

South Africa’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Bobby Moroe, had recently described the attacks as “sporadic acts of violence” and not xenophobia.

Moroe gave the submission when the Federal Government summoned him over recent attacks on Nigerians in his country.

But speaking in a statement on Saturday in Abuja, Archbishop Buti Tigagale of the Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference Office for Migrants and Refugees faulted the South African government’s claim.

Tigagale noted that a series of xenophobic violence had been recorded in the Johannesburg CBD, Pretoria, Johannesburg CBD, Malvern, Turffontein and Krugersdorp.

He said, “Once again we receive reports of the authorities doing very little to protect the victims. We received report of police standing by idly in Pretoria while shops were looted and people attacked. Not a single arrest was made on that day.

“Once again the authorities resort to the old explanation: that this is not xenophobia, but the work of criminal elements.

“Let us be absolutely clear – this is not an attempt by concerned South Africans to rid our cities of drug dealers. And this is not the work of a few criminal elements. It is xenophobia, plain and simple.

“If it was about drugs, why are South African drug dealers not being targeted as well? Are we really to believe that there are none? And why are drug addicts who rob people in our city centres to get money to buy drugs not being targeted? If it is the work of a few criminal elements, why are South African owned businesses not being looted as well?

He added, “The teaching of the Church is direct and uncompromising. More than 80% of South Africans claim to be Christian. What are our religious leaders teaching the multitudes that fill our Churches every Sunday? Galatians 3:28 says: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

“By the same token, there is neither South African nor Nigerian nor Ethiopian. We are all one in Christ Jesus. “Let us take heed of this. We are facing a rising tide of hatred and intolerance, no different to the rising tide of hatred in Nazi Germany. If we do not take urgent action to stop it, there will be nothing left,” he said.

A South African website that keeps track of xenophobic attacks in the country, Xenowatch, says more than 500 attacks occurred between 1994 and 2018.

The website says 100 attacks in 2008 left more than 60 people dead, while noting more than 70 attacks occurred in 2015.