“Love is love. If you love a Mozambican‚ so what? If you love a Nigerian‚ so what? If you love an American‚ so what?” KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu said on Tuesday.
Mchunu was responding to a question on the impact of the recent spate of xenophobic attacks on families in which South African women are married to foreign nationals.
A reporter from TV Mozambique‚ who arrived in Durban to cover the recent spate of attacks on foreigners‚ told Mchunu that he had interviewed men who are concerned that their children will starve after they were forced out of their homes by angry mobs.
“In the Chatsworth transit camp‚ we met an immigrant‚ who told us that he is married to a South African woman and has a six-month-old child with her. He has been chased away from his place and he is worried about how he is going to provide for his child because all that he has is gone and his wife does not work‚” the reporter said.
Mchunu said violence‚ whether against foreigners or South Africans‚ had a tendency of disrupting family life and that the team established to find a solution to the deadly attacks in Durban would be looking into the impacts on families.
He said there should also be no victimisation against these couples.
“A marriage is a marriage. It is a matter that we will be interested in not only that but other disruptive effects that these attacks have had on the people’s lives‚” he said.
Transit camps in Isipingo‚ Chatsworth and Greenwood are housing at least 2000 displaced foreigners.
Three foreign nationals and two South Africans — including a 14-year old who was gunned down in Ntuzuma during looting on Monday night — have lost their lives since attacks on foreigners began in Isipingo‚ south of Durban‚ three weeks ago.
Over the weekend‚ fresh attacks broke out in the northern KwaMashu and Ntuzuma areas.
On Monday night‚ the wave of xenophobic violence spread into the central Umbilo suburb.
Durban’s city centre was a battlefield on Tuesday when angry mobs of South Africans attacked foreign-owned shops and foreign nationals took up arms to fight back.
The violence spread to Verulam‚ north of Durban‚ on Tuesday night when five foreigners were stabbed and assaulted when two shops were looted.
There were no attacks overnight‚ but Durban police remain on high alert.
KZN premier soothes fears of foreigners married to South Africans
“Love is love. If you love a Mozambican‚ so what? If you love a Nigerian‚ so what? If you love an American‚ so what?” KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu said on Tuesday.
Mchunu was responding to a question on the impact of the recent spate of xenophobic attacks on families in which South African women are married to foreign nationals.
A reporter from TV Mozambique‚ who arrived in Durban to cover the recent spate of attacks on foreigners‚ told Mchunu that he had interviewed men who are concerned that their children will starve after they were forced out of their homes by angry mobs.
“In the Chatsworth transit camp‚ we met an immigrant‚ who told us that he is married to a South African woman and has a six-month-old child with her. He has been chased away from his place and he is worried about how he is going to provide for his child because all that he has is gone and his wife does not work‚” the reporter said.
Mchunu said violence‚ whether against foreigners or South Africans‚ had a tendency of disrupting family life and that the team established to find a solution to the deadly attacks in Durban would be looking into the impacts on families.
He said there should also be no victimisation against these couples.
“A marriage is a marriage. It is a matter that we will be interested in not only that but other disruptive effects that these attacks have had on the people’s lives‚” he said.
Transit camps in Isipingo‚ Chatsworth and Greenwood are housing at least 2000 displaced foreigners.
Three foreign nationals and two South Africans — including a 14-year old who was gunned down in Ntuzuma during looting on Monday night — have lost their lives since attacks on foreigners began in Isipingo‚ south of Durban‚ three weeks ago.
Over the weekend‚ fresh attacks broke out in the northern KwaMashu and Ntuzuma areas.
On Monday night‚ the wave of xenophobic violence spread into the central Umbilo suburb.
Durban’s city centre was a battlefield on Tuesday when angry mobs of South Africans attacked foreign-owned shops and foreign nationals took up arms to fight back.
The violence spread to Verulam‚ north of Durban‚ on Tuesday night when five foreigners were stabbed and assaulted when two shops were looted.
There were no attacks overnight‚ but Durban police remain on high alert.
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