King calls for acceptance over tolerance

KING Goodwill Zwelithini has called on Africans to accept rather than tolerate each other to achieved genuine social cohesion.

This was highlighted by his spokesperson Prince Thulani Zulu as he delivered the Zulu monarchy’s message of support during the launch of the Amasiko Ehlangene (cultures united) programme in Durban on Friday.

The initiative by the Kwazulunatal Department of Arts and Culture comes at a time when nationals from African countries fear that the xenophobic violence recently reported in Tshwane and Johannesburg could spill-over into Kwazulu-natal.

The programme is aimed at promoting co-existence and tolerance through cultural exposure and exchange among African people.

“The king has always been an advocate for social cohesion. When he has events at his palace he invites leaders from other African countries because he appreciates cultures of other people,” he said.

Zwelithini, whose utterances were initially suspected to have sparked the March 2015 attacks on foreign nationals, has condemned renewed acts of xenophobic violence in South Africa and Nigeria.

Spearheading the programme, MEC for Arts and Culture, Bongi Sithole-moloi, described the attacks as criminality. “We must condemn those who ill-treat our African brothers and sisters. Xenophobia and Afrophobia are alien to us as people.”

While welcoming the initiative as a tool to help start a muchneeded dialogue, an organisation attempting to quell tensions since the 2015 attacks through community engagements, the African Solitary Network, said the programme