A meeting organised by the Makana Anti-Xenophobia Concerned Group this week called for broader and quicker communication in dealing with the recent spate of xenophobic looting in Makana.
A meeting organised by the Makana Anti-Xenophobia Concerned Group this week called for broader and quicker communication in dealing with the recent spate of xenophobic looting in Makana.
Speaking at the meeting at the Masifunde Education and Development Project Trust, Unemployed Peoples Movement leader Ayanda Kota said the police and Makana Municipality had failed to stop the xenophobic attacks.
Kota said police lacked urgency in dealing with the matter from the onset. Kota insisted that before the attacks happened, he had gone to the police and reported that rumours that were going around accusing foreigners of being involved in crime in Grahamstown.
Kota said he had warned the police in a meeting on 30 September that the rumours had the potential to escalate into xenophobic attacks. But he said the police still hadn't listened to him. Kota said in that meeting the issue of crime must be acknowledged, including the recent murders in the past few months.
"The issue of looting must also be condemned," Kota said. Women who spoke at the meeting said they were suffering now that their husbands were no longer running their businesses.
They said, today, Friday 30 October, at 1pm they would organise a silent protest to the municipality and the police station and urge assistance in the matter.
They also accused the municipality and the police of failing to perform their jobs properly. The women said what was needed was for the municipality and the police to visit the communities and make it clear that the rumours were not true.
They said this was the only way to calm down the current situation.
