'It's a state of emergency'

2008-05-19 20:00

Johannesburg - The government response to the xenophobic attacks in Gauteng is inadequate as the issue needs to be addressed as a "state of emergency", said a coalition of human-rights groups in Johannesburg on Monday.

SA Human Rights Commission (HRC) deputy chairperson Zonke Majodina said the government had failed to deal with the attacks.

"The government is not charting a course of action. This is a state of emergency. So far, the government's responses have not been adequate.

"Political leaders have made very few statements and not come up with a co-ordinated response," she said.

Majodina said the government should issue a moratorium on the arrest and deportation of all the victims of violence, regardless of their legal status.

Intensify security

She called on the government to take urgent steps to intensify security in the province and reinforce the police's presence.

Although this was not the time to be pointing fingers, the government had failed to implement legislation that was in place to protect immigrants.

Majodina said: "We have progressive legislation such as the Immigration Act and its implementation is slow."

Meanwhile, the Commission on Gender Equality has accused some political parties of fuelling the crisis.

Commission chairperson Nomboniso Gasa said some political parties were going from door to door asking for the occupants' nationalities.

Gasa said these political parties were intensifying the problem.

She declined to name any party, saying her organisation would reveal a name after it concluded its report on the attacks.

Apart from the "political manipulation of the situation" there was a criminal element among the root causes of the attacks, Gasa said.

The HRC met the Commission on Gender Equality, civil society organisations and the SA Council of Churches on Monday to map out ways of dealing with xenophobic attacks.

- SAPA