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June 5, 2008

South African head of church grouping ‘anguished’ about xenophobia

by Fredrick Nzwili and David Wanless
Ecumenical News International

NAIROBI/CAPE TOWN — The head of Africa’s biggest church grouping says he is hurt and tormented by a wave of attacks against foreigners in South Africa that have claimed the lives of at least 50 people, causing self-revulsion in a nation that once prided itself for post-apartheid tolerance.

“As a South African, I stand truly embarrassed, pained and anguished about the recent developments in my country,” the Rev. Mvume Dandala, a Methodist who is general secretary of the Nairobi-based All Africa Conference of Churches, and who one mediated in the time of reconciliation that followed apartheid in the 1990s.

The violence began in Johannesburg in early May and then spread to other parts of the country including Cape Town, where mobs attacked Somalis and Zimbabweans, and looted their homes and shops.

Those targeted have been mainly immigrants and refugees from other parts of Africa, including Zimbabwe, whose shattered economy has led to at least two million people seeking refuge in South Africa. Media reports say the migrants are accused of taking jobs from South Africans.

Dandala said that events in South Africa may not be an expression of antagonism towards Mozambicans, Zimbabweans or Kenyans, but rather a manifestation of competition for scarce resources.

“I see what is happening in South Africa, as yet another challenge for Africa to find ways and means to overcome the practice of division,” said Dandala, in his comments made during a recent international meeting in Nairobi about aid effectiveness in Africa.

A columnist in South Africa’s Pretoria News wrote on May 24: “Four years ago, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu caused a spluttering avalanche of indignation when he expressed fears about the situation developing in South Africa as a result of growing gaps between the rich and the poor. ‘Are we not building up much resentment that we may rue later?’ Tutu asked in the 2004 annual Nelson Mandela Memorial lecture. ‘Many, too many, of our people live in grueling, demeaning, dehumanizing poverty. We are sitting on a powder keg.’”

The columnist continued: “The big bang may have just happened. It took just two weeks to kill nearly 50 people, displace 15,000 others, and get images of their burning, bloodied and terrified victims into the international spotlight.”