CRL commission appeals for peace and tolerance after unrest
The Commission is appealing to communities to remain vigilant and continue to protect and promote the values of peace, friendship, unity, tolerance, and social cohesion.
PRETORIA, July 16 (ANA) – The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) has appealed to South African communities to foster peace and tolerance, after the country experienced days of violence.
Shopping malls in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal were extensively looted and vandalised this week in a wave of unrest that started in KwaZulu-Natal after former president Jacob Zuma was incarcerated for contempt of court.
“The CRL Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the unprecedented prevailing conflict that has devastated some parts of our country which is creating discomfort to cultural, religious, and linguistic communities. The Commission condemns the unfortunate activities that we have witnessed through the media since the previous weekend,” chairperson Prof David Mosoma said in a statement.
“It is through such activities that our hard-earned freedom and Constitution is not only threatened but these acts further contribute to the erosion of the moral fibre of our nation and an attack on our democratic values which are intended to be the building blocks of the ideal rainbow nation.”
Mosoma called on cultural, religious, and linguistic communities to remain vigilant and continue to protect and promote the values of peace, friendship, unity, tolerance, and social cohesion as espoused by the CRL Rights Commission’s Act 19 of 2002.
The commission applauded communities who took steps towards protecting and rebuilding, following the days of destruction.
“Those who will be most impacted by these acts of destruction and devastation are the poorest in our communities, particularly, as the aftermath may take some time to deal with, thereby posing a dreadful potential which could wipe out the little gains achieved in the last few years since the dawn of democracy,” said Mosoma.
“It is on this basis that we call upon all communities to be mindful of the rights of others, to leave peacefully and co-exist while exercising their own rights. We urge communities to desist from activities that exacerbate conflict but implore them to give support to each other in dealing with challenges facing our individual communities.”
The commission emphasized that there could never be any justifiable reason to vandalise or destroy infrastructure or to fan racial conflict as had occurred in Phoenix in KwaZulu-Natal province.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa
