News24 | ‘No grievance can justify violence’: Churches condemn attacks on foreign nationals

As anti-immigrant tensions continue to simmer across South Africa, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) has warned that no grievance, however legitimate, can justify violence and intimidation against foreign nationals.

In a 10-page pastoral letter titled Do Not Turn Away the Stranger, issued to churches across the country following a gathering of church leaders on 2 June, the SACC urged South Africans to reject hatred and xenophobia while acknowledging widespread frustration with unemployment, crime, poor service delivery, and economic exclusion.

SACC general secretary Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana said church leaders were compelled to speak out after meeting on 2 June to consider escalating attacks on migrants.

“Across our land; in KwaZulu-Natal, in Gauteng, in the Free State and in the Western Cape, a wave of hostility, intimidation, and violence has risen against our brothers and sisters from other countries living among us.”

The intervention comes amid growing anti-immigrant mobilisation across the country and follows recent calls by President Cyril Ramaphosa for a crackdown on illegal immigration while warning against vigilantism and xenophobic attacks.

Recent weeks have seen a swell of protest action, and in some cases violence, against foreign nationals or South Africans mistaken for foreign nationals.

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Groups like March and March have been behind many such protests and promised mass action by 30 June if the issue of undocumented migration isn’t addressed according to their demands. That date has also been mentioned as a “deadline’’ for undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country.

The SACC, which represents 34 member churches and church associations, said church leaders were deeply concerned about the human cost of recent unrest directed at foreign nationals.

According to the council, the tensions have resulted in displacement, injuries, loss of livelihoods and, in some cases, loss of life.

“The church believes that real grievances deserve to be heard, but that no grievance can justify violence, intimidation, vigilantism or the targeting of innocent people on the basis of their nationality,” said SACC president Archbishop Sithembele Sipuka.

Church leaders said they recognised that many South Africans participating in anti-immigrant protests were expressing genuine concerns about unemployment, crime, poor service delivery and what they perceive as government inaction.

However, they cautioned against blaming migrants for South Africa’s broader soc