We are a peace-loving party, not xenophobic, says ABM
THE African Basic Movement (ABM) has defended itself, saying it is a peace-loving movement in the wake of calls by several civil society groups to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to deregister the party for allegedly harbouring xenophobic views.
On Monday several civil society groups complained to the IEC about the ABM, saying the party actively promoted intolerance with its stance on foreign nationals within South African borders.
In its mission statement on its website the ABM says the “influx of foreign nationals that are scattered in this country is causing a lot of problems and difficulties, creating many challenges”. It also states that safety issues and opportunities for local people are in jeopardy as they have to compete with foreign nationals in the job market.
ABM president Alfred Luthuli said the party is not xenophobic but that it wanted illegal foreign nationals to be deported because they were in South Africa unlawfully.
“This is part of the constituion which makes it clear that illegal foreigners shall be deported because there shouldn’t be people who are undocumented in the country. We have made it clear that this is our stance,” Luthuli said.
However, constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said this was not the case.
“Although it is not explicit in the constitution, it is prohibited to discriminate against people purely on the basis that they are not South African citizens. There might be differences if you are undocumented where the law might treat you differently but in general there is a prohibition on unfair discrimination against people who are not SA citizens.”
De Vos said there was no reference in the constitution as suggested by ABM. “In fact, the bill of rights applies to everyone except for a few things like the right to vote and those types of citizens-based rights.”
Luthuli said that employers were exploiting illegal migrants because they had no legal documentation and they were desperate for jobs.
“This ends up disadvantaging South African nationals who should be working in those jobs but they end up unemployed because of this,” Luthuli said.
He said they had never incited violence and had no intention of ever doing so, but they were simply engaging in debates that they felt would help steer the country in the right direction.
IEC KZN spokesperson Mawethu Mosery said that since the complaint had only been lodged on Monday there had been no further development in their investigation and were going through internal processes
“We acknowledged receipt of the complaint on Monday so our process has only been going since Tuesday and today (Wednesday). We could have an update in seven days,” Mosery said.
He said that they had yet to establish whether the ABM had violated any code of conduct in terms of the electoral code.
He said that should any violations be found the matter would be put before the electoral court.
Mbuyiselo Botha of the Commission for Gender Equality said that there were no authentic and authoritative scientific studies to support the claim that foreign nationals were the cause of a lack of safety and job opportunities for South Africans.
“What we are going through in South Africa is a constraint of resources and as a result these are directed towards black Africans. On issues of crime and drug dealing there’s never been any authentication that this is committed by foreign, black nationals,” Botha said.
He said that the issue at stake was that the majority of South Africans were “fighting over crumbs” in terms of resources and this led to economic inequalities.