Xenophobia 'a social crime'

2008-05-13 14:18

Cape Town - South Africans have to understand the "political necessity" to accept refugees in the country, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Tuesday.

Asked at a media briefing at parliament about the apparent increase in xenophobic attacks on refugees, he said it was a social crime, which was very difficult to police using conventional policing methods.

"So, that matter is not essentially a police matter. The police only come afterwards, when there is already an eruption... they are reacting rather than proacting.

"What needs to happen rather is the communities should understand the political necessity for them to accommodate people who come from other countries. They should have an understanding of that," Nqakula said.

Government's intervention was via communication to educate people about the issue and to persuade them against violent behaviour towards foreign nationals.

If foreign nationals committed crime, it was the responsibility of the police to deal with it.

"But as government, we keep on imploring our people to desist from such behaviour."

People who come into SA do so on several grounds, and therefore they could not simply be violently ejected from the country.

Some of the people who had become victims of xenophobic attacks were actually permanent residents in South Africa.

"And therefore it is very, very wrong of people to deal with this matter in the way that they are doing," he said.

- SAPA