Cape Town mayor sends a message about national shutdown

The leader of the second-biggest party in South Africa’s governing coalition has taken a strong stand against xenophobic violence and called on the authorities to protect immigrants who are being targeted by protesters.

“Every mayor, every premier, every minister and every law-enforcement agency has a duty to lower the temperature, prevent violence, protect communities and uphold the law,” DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said in a speech to the nation that was broadcast on social media. 

Hill-Lewis’s appeal comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa used a televised address earlier this month to acknowledge that illegal immigration was a major problem and pledge to step up deportations, boost border security and penalise businesses employing undocumented migrants.

He also urged the protesters to leave law enforcement to the authorities. 

South Africa has seen a wave of xenophobic attacks and demonstrations against the presence of undocumented migrants in recent months.

There are mounting concerns that the violence could escalate, particularly with protesters demanding that these foreign nationals leave the country by June 30.

“Threats of violence and anarchy cannot be acceptable in a constitutional democracy,” said Hill-Lewis, who is also the mayor of Cape Town, South Africa’s second-largest city and home to many immigrants.

“The law must be enforced by the state, not by mobs, not by vigilantes and not by politicians who stoke hatred for votes.”

Hill-Lewis said he had spoken to Ramaphosa about the anti-immigrant attacks on Wednesday and urged a coordinated response.

He said he had instructed law-enforcement agencies in Cape Town to safeguard schools, businesses, public transport and places of worship.

Migrants have become a target for frustrated South Africans as the country grapples with high unemployment, violent crime, broken infrastructure and poor public services. 

Foreigners aren’t to blame for those ills, according to Hill-Lewis.

“South Africa’s deepest problem is not a vulnerable person selling vegetables on a corner who happens to not be born here,” he said.

“It is an economy that does not grow, a state that does not work and a government that has failed to create jobs, secure our borders, fight crime and deliver basic services.”

Hill-Lewis said while he understood the frustrations of South Africans who lack jobs and basic services, violence against immigrants couldn’t be justified.

“Our frustration must never become hatred. And it must never become violence,” he said.

“We must never allow certain politicians or vigilantes to abuse the hardship caused by a failing economy to scapegoat and incite violence against foreign nationals to promote their own agendas.”