KZN ANC warns that anti-immigrant attacks will hurt the poor the most

By Celani Sikhakhane

• Mike Mabuyakhulu told ANC members in Inanda on Friday that decisions driven by anger and emotion will cause damage that is hard to fix.

• Mabuyakhulu pointed to the 2021 riots as proof that when communities turn on each other, it is the poor who pay the highest price.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is warning its members that joining the wave of attacks on foreign nationals violates the founding values of the Freedom Charter — and that the people who will suffer most if it continues are poor South Africans.

ANC KZN convener Mike Mabuyakhulu made the remarks on Friday at a Freedom Charter celebration in kwaMshayazafe, Inanda, north of Durban. The event marked 71 years since the charter was adopted in Kliptown.

“If we make decisions based on our emotions and anger, we will make a damage that will be hard to fix. We will also make our country the most hated nation in the world,” Mabuyakhulu said.

He warned that the protests, if they continued, would hit the poor hardest. He pointed to the July 2021 unrest as evidence. That wave of riots and looting cost the country billions of rands, destroyed shops and infrastructure, and left working-class communities without access to basic goods for weeks.

Mabuyakhulu also called on ANC members to deepen their understanding of the movement’s ideology before defending it.

“Cadres must study. You cannot defend a revolution you do not understand,” he said.

The Freedom Charter, adopted on 26 June 1955, declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. That principle was not universally accepted within the liberation movement.

Robert Sobukwe rejected it and left the ANC to form the Pan Africanist Congress, arguing that South Africa belongs to Africans only. The PAC exists today and is currently led by Mzwanele Nyhontso, who serves as Minister of Land Reform.

Friday’s event was attended by South Africans including academics and activists.

Pictured above: ANC members gathered in Inanda, north of Durban, on Friday to mark 71 years since the adoption of the Freedom Charter.

Image source: KZNANC