RESIDENTS left strangers at the SA Human Rights Commission, when there was a call to speak on the issue of protests against illegal immigrants.
The people of this country have accused the human rights commission of protecting illegal immigrants.
Those who commented on the call yesterday said that the commission does nothing for the people of this country, it knows how to speak for immigrants.
The spokesperson of the residents’ association, Sanco, Mr. Mzukisi Jam, said the commission does not reprimand immigrants if they put a finger in the eye of local people.
“Foreigners are the ones who are provoking us. The government is silent when immigrants are provoking the people of this country. The government is silent when immigrants anoint a king in the Eastern Cape.”
Mr. Bongani Phungula said it seems that the commission only protects the rights of immigrants.
“You know how to speak up for immigrants. You don’t do anything for the people of this country. As long as someone from this country stands up and fights against the immigrants, you stand up. Everything you say is to protect the immigrants.”
Mr. Kamogelo Motedi said he has never heard the commission criticize the actions of immigrants involved in criminal activities.
“Why do you always speak for immigrants? When do you speak for the people of this country? When the people of this country stand up for the issue of immigrants, you and the police protect them. I live in Pretoria, Sunnyside. The immigrants sell drugs to school children. They sell the drugs live, they bribe the police.”
Mr. Joshua Mashao said that people who are in the country illegally should be sent back to their countries.
“The only thing we see is that you don’t see it as a crime for foreigners to enter this country illegally. You have no problem with foreigners entering this country illegally. When we go to other countries, we have to show documents, but foreigners are allowed to stay in this country even though they don’t have documents to stay in this country. That’s why we have so many shacks here in South Africa.”
Mrs. Teboho Lekwetse said that the relationship between the people of this country and foreigners cannot be repaired.
“We failed to live with these people. We are very different from them. Our cultures are different. That’s why we don’t understand each other. There are things that didn’t happen here before the immigrants came. We didn’t know what cocaine looked like, but today we know it because of the immigrants. There was no such thing as human trafficking, we started it with the immigrants. Let these people go.”
The acting chief executive of the commission, Mr. Eric Mokonyama, said it is not true that they are not helping the people of this country.
“We do a lot for the people of this country. We have been in Gauteng where we talked about the issue of water. We have been to the North West where we talked about the issue of development. We do a lot of things for the people of this country.”
Mokonyama said what they are against is people taking the law into their own hands.
“There are government agencies tasked with dealing with people who enter the country illegally. We should let those agencies do their job.”
Meanwhile, the ministers in charge of security agencies held an emergency meeting yesterday, where they discussed the increase in anti-immigrant protests.