Phoenix residents unite to heal wounds
The Phoenix community came together on Sunday to commemorate former president Nelson Mandela’s birthday, pledging to heal the wounds caused by the recent unrest, which saw more that 20 deaths in the town.
“The barricades have been removed by the metro police and while the situation is tense, we are safe,” community leader Sagren Naidu said.
The Phoenix community came together on Sunday to commemorate former president Nelson Mandela’s birthday, pledging to heal the wounds caused by the recent unrest which saw more that 20 deaths in the town.
As the sun set, Phoenix residents embarked on a “light up Phoenix” campaign, shining their torches and car lights as a vehicle convoy snaked through the area calling for peace.
“The barricades have been removed by the metro police and while the situation is tense, we are safe,” community leader Sagren Naidu said.
“We know that instigators and opportunists have used this situation to create conflict and divide our community. No-one wants conflict but we need to have our safety guaranteed.”
Another community leader, Musa Mbatha said: “We are working together to clean up our community. We are meeting as a community to find peace.
As the unrest swept through the province last week claims emerged of racial tensions between black and Indian communities in the town, 25km outside Durban. There were allegations of vigilante groups going around in the area under the guise of protecting private property from the looters.
Pravin Gordhan, the minister of public enterprises whose support base in the Indian community is known, has rejected outright that racial tensions are a cause for concern or that there is any potential for a race war.
Gordhan has been working closely with business, community and security leaders in both Johannesburg and KwaZuluNatal to reopen the freight routes on the N3 and allow for the Durban and Richards Bay ports to be fully operational.
“We are not seeing signs of racial tensions. Instead, what we are seeing is great humanitarian efforts from organisations like the Gift of the Givers and other activists across the racial spectrum, said Gordhan.
The minister also hit out at the so-called instigators behind the uprisings.
“What we are seeing is the effects of state capture and corruption that has undermined our democracy and rule of law. What we have seen is wellorchestrated attacks by agitators that have attempted to isolate people and play on the fears of communities in various geographic areas.”
Violence monitor Mary de Haas said the latest situation pointed firmly to the fact that previous attempts at social cohesion in KwaZulu-Natal had not worked.
Racial profiling and racial geography also added to the problems. “To address these matters fully, we need law enforcement and justice to work and those who are responsible for any murders must be arrested. We also need religious, economic and political constituencies to play their part.”
Sociologist Paulus Zulu says that the matter is not a simple one as there are conflicting views on the situation. “This is a complex matter. Phoenix is a multi-racial community, so it is puzzling. We have seen opportunists and instigators alike taking advantage of the situation,” Zulu said.
But instead of the tearing the community apart, the unrest has the community coming together to “clean up their community and help each other.”
Imraan Buccus a political analyst said the talk of race wars was being fermented on Twitter and social media platforms. “On the ground people are mobilising in a cohesive manner. I am not seeing division. We are seeing religious and business sectors working hand in hand to rebuild,” he said.
“There is a lot of talk at community level that compromised law enforcement involving individuals in the security cluster may have contributed to a slow and ineffective response when the looting and unrest began, forcing certain members of the community to defend themselves,” Buccus said.