Press statement on the purported attack of police by Migrants at the Jeppe and Delvers Madiba Mall in Johannesburg
(News Of The South) – The African Diaspora Forum learns with great sadness and regret the amplification of the retaliation of the migrant community in the recent attacks of the 9th of June 2019 on their human dignity by law enforcement agents. The African Diaspora Forum has never been ambivalent on criminality by migrants. We have been and remain clear that we do not condone any criminal activities by migrants. It is very sad that since November last year when the migrants refused to allow enforcement agents to violate their right to privacy and to be searched without a warranty, no one dared consider the infringement of this right and yet all they did was request to be treated like any other human being.
Migrants have been stripped off all human rights contained in the Bill of rights and can be treated anyhow as long as a person who does so is an authority of some sought. Even authority is exercised within set perimeters. No one can apply the law arbitrarily, it is not just rule by law but rule of law. We have seen many letters from the migrant community to various leaders of government seeking an audience to be treated in a humane and dignified manner. We have video footage of people referred to as authority running into migrant shops carrying AK47 weapons accompanied by dogs as though it’s a fast-paced adrenaline
Hollywood movie running into a terrorist camp putting on balaclavas to hide their faces. What kind of law enforcement is this?
The migrants merely requested the search and seizure procedures to be followed and for them to be shown such search warrants and the price for such a request were rubber bullets and live ammunition. Some officials are tainting the name of the police services with such a bad mark. Migrants are only requesting to be treated like human beings, to be able to ask questions and be answered or responded to with human regard not to be treated with scorn
for requesting that which they deserve. Migrants like other human beings are human before they are migrants, they do not cede their humanity to being called migrants, all they require is to be shown the way, when they ask for it.
On Sunday in the afternoon, their crime was to request for search warrants, to be searched within the parameters of the law, they revolted to being shot at for requesting that search warrants be produced. Is that not the least anyone who has to be searched deserves? Is that right denied of migrants? South Africa is a constitutional democracy that guarantees that anyone who lives within it shall be treated in terms of the law and we have seen in the case
of the SADC tribunal South Africa even standing up for the rights of those outside South Africa, which is commendable, “injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere” Martin Luther Junior.
Will we sit and allow migrants to be treated less human and claim they are being lawless for resisting to be treated as substandard humans? We do not countenance a situation where ADF a federation of migrant associations – Assisting migrant communities globally. The migrant community fight running battles with the police and what option do we leave them with when their only protection, the law keeps failing them? We do not condone selfhelp at all. We have seen many protesting communities burn tires and retaliate when shot at by the police, it becomes an anomaly if done by the migrant community because they are accepted in the country with diminished rights? This is not the community that the South African constitution envisaged nor is it the world that we thrive for in line with Agenda 2063.
We are taking five steps forward and ten backwards. We celebrate a South Africa that is better than many African countries and thrive to have all countries modelled around it, but it appears we want South Africa to regress and be like the countries that are not constitutional
democracies, where there is no rule of law but where there is rule by law.
We want to urge the migrant commit to use the lawful means available to them to deal with abuse of laws than to fight back because it is not symptomatic of a progressive society and community. Let us engage more vociferously with Chapter 9 institutions and other lawfully acceptable and recognised avenues when human rights are not respected so that we may build a better community that respects institutions that are meant to enforce law and peace
and foster social cohesion and integration. Together let us build a community that we can be proud of and pass on to future generations as a legacy.
We pray a full recovery to Mr Abdul who is battling for his life after countless bullets were pumped into his body by law enforcement agents and we hope that the perpetrators will be brought to book expeditiously and without fear nor favour.
For the African Diaspora Forum
Dr Vusumuzi Sibanda – ADF Chairperson
vsibbs@gmail.com or africandiasporaforum@gmail.com
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