Metro

South Africa’s President Ramaphosa wants companies to employ only documented foreigners

Published

1 year ago

March 23, 2022

With an eye on recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has asked South African companies not to employ undocumented foreign nationals to avoid tensions with citizens in the country.

The president made the call on Monday as he addressed residents in Koster in the North West during the official commemoration of Human Rights Day.

“We should not allow ourselves that those who come from other countries, see ourselves being at war with them because it is uncouth African. The challenges of unemployment that we are facing should never mean that we should go and wage war against those people from other countries because once we do that, we just immediately promote this spirit of xenophobia that now we hate them, that they must go. What we are saying is that yes, we want people to be properly documented in our country, we want employers to be very careful to hire people who are properly documented.”- Cyril Ramaphosa

Earlier this month, residents in Alexandra in the north of Johannesburg embarked on the so-called Dudula campaign. The protest action led by the Dudula Movement targeted undocumented foreign nationals in the township.

Two controversial groups – the Alexandra Dudula Movement and Operation Dudula recently started campaigns against undocumented foreign nationals and support seems to be growing among South African communities who feel marginalized.

The South African leader condemned the campaign, describing it as against South Africa’s values, and warned that such actions could lead to vigilantism and also highlighted that foreign nationals have always been instrumental in the growth of South African industries, especially the mining industry.

Between 2010 and 2017 the immigrant community in South Africa increased from 2 million people to 4 million people.The proportion of South Africa’s total population that is foreign-born increased from 2.8% in 2005 to 7% in 2019, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, in spite of widespread xenophobia in the country.

A reliefweb report says the increased number of immigrants in South Africa is largely due to its middle-income status, stable democratic institutions, and comparatively industrialized economy.

Incidences of xenophobia increased between 2000 and March 2008 in South Africa with at least 67 people killed. In May 2008, a series of attacks left 62 people dead; although 21 of those killed were South African citizens. In 2015, another nationwide spike in xenophobic attacks against immigrants, in general, prompted a number of foreign governments to begin repatriating their citizens.

A Pew Research poll conducted in 2018 showed that 62% of South Africans viewed immigrants as a burden on society by taking jobs and social benefits and that 61% of South Africans thought that immigrants were more responsible for crime than other groups.

Related Topics:Featured South Africa xenophobia

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Metro

Rwandan President, Kagame sacks over 200 military personnel in major shake-up

Published

10 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has sacked over 200 soldiers including top military brass and commanders from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) in a massive shake-up.

The dismissed officers include the former Commander of the Reserve Forces, Maj. Gen. Aloys Muganga, and Brig. Gen. Francis Mutiganda, a former Head of External Security in the National Intelligence Services, as well as 14 senior officers.

The announcement of the sacking of the officers which was contained in a statement released by the RDF on Wednesday, did not give reason for the sackings, but the move come a day after the president reshuffled the top echelon of the country’s military, which saw the firing of the Defence Minister and an Army Chief.

The sacking of the soldiers has further heightened tension between Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, with each side accusing the other of working with rebels to topple one another’s governments, according to reports in local media.

Metro

UN war crimes court declares Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga unfit to stand trial

Published

10 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

An 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga has been declared unfit to stand trial by judges at a United Nations War Crimes Court in The Hague.

In a decision published by the court on Wednesday, the judges acknowledged that Kabuga was no longer able to actively participate in his trial, and rather proposed an alternative process that aims to resemble a trial but does not allow for a conviction instead of stopping the proceedings completely.

“The trial chamber finds Mr. Kabuga is no longer capable of meaningful participation in his trial,” the publication said.

“The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, therefore, finds that Mr. Kabuga is not fit for trial and is very unlikely to regain fitness in the future.

“It is therefore agreed to adopt an alternative finding procedure that resembles a trial as closely as possible, but without the possibility of a conviction,” it added.

Kabuga who was arrested in Paris where he had been in hiding under a false identity for several years, was one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide, and was charged at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with genocide and crimes against humanity.

At his initial arraignment in September last year, the ICC heard that Kabuga was alleged to have been the main financier of the ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered over 800,000 minority Tutsis as well as political opponents during the genocide in 1994.

According to the UN, Kabuga, a wealthy businessman from the Hutu ethnic group, had established and financed an infamous media outfit, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which was notorious for inciting violence and promoting the targeting and elimination of individuals from the Tutsi ethnic group who were referred to as “Cockroaches”.

Kabuga was arrested in Paris in 2020 after decades on the run and sent for trial in The Hague where he pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring the infamous Hutu radical radio station urging people to kill Tutsi “cockroaches”.

He also denied supplying machetes and supporting the murderous Interahamwe Hutu militia.