‘After Afrophobia comes tribalism’: Maimane weighs in on Diepsloot unrest

One SA Movement leader Mmusi Maimane is the latest to weigh in on the unrest and violence in Diepsloot.

The informal settlement north of Johannesburg was rocked by protests last week when residents demanded better policing of immigration laws in the wake of a number of alleged murders. Residents claimed undocumented foreign nationals were driving up crime.

A Zimbabwean national, Elvis Nyathi, was killed in a mob attack in the area. No arrest has been made. Several suspected undocumented foreign nationals have been arrested.

Weighing in on the unrest, Maimane said those who killed Nyathi must be arrested.

“We should not normalise murder as a tool for getting government attention,” he said.

“There is no problem with the police checking for passports and visas. That is their job. While they are in Diepsloot, they must also take the time to apprehend those who took matters into their own hands and killed an innocent man.”

Maimane also slammed authorities who validated people’s citizenship based on their accents.

“South Africans are being profiled by accent? This will not end well. This is not what we represent as a nation. President Cyril Ramaphosa, the world is watching.

“Police members are marking dialects. After Afrophobia comes tribalism. It does not stop,” he said.

Maimane said government must take responsibility for the “mess we are in”.

“Chaos is being used as a cover for avoiding accountability. Destruction is being used as a distraction. This government is fully responsible for the mess we are in. From the economy to education to crime, they have spent the past 28 years focused on looting and positions,” he said.

The DA has called on Gauteng MEC for community safety Faith Mazibuko to liaise with her national counterparts, police minister Bheki Cele and state security, to urgently brief the Gauteng provincial legislature’s portfolio committee on community safety on the action that will be taken to quell violence in Diepsloot.

“We are greatly concerned this violence will quickly escalate, and we will see similar scenes to July last year,” said the party.

“The DA believes there is a fine line between criminality and voicing your concern about undocumented foreign nationals.

“While the country’s law must be respected and adhered to by all, we cannot have a situation where our residents take the law into their own hands and injure or kill innocent bystanders.”

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