Dudula promotes disregard for human rights
Our late and beloved Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu once said: “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.” His words may as well have fallen on cold, hard stones. Tomorrow, when we celebrate Human Rights Day, a march to protest against xenophobia has been prohibited on the grounds of safety. The march, organised by a coalition of groups concerned at rising anti-foreigner sentiment, drew threats from Operation Dudula, and police apparently could not guarantee the safety of marchers.
The interplay between xenophobia and the desperate situation of impoverished South Africans is a complex one that needs compassion, debate and a willingness to listen. Intimidation, scapegoating and disregard for human rights will make the problem worse.
Over the past weeks we have witnessed Operation Dudula — with the support of some politicians — increasingly emboldened in its campaign to throw out foreigners, blaming them for soaking up opportunities they feel belong to South Africans.
Apart from signalling to foreigners with needed skills that they are not welcome, people who fled conflict and economic hardship are once again living in fear. And once they are gone, poor South Africans will still be short of jobs.
Human Rights Day was born of the massacre of 69 people in Sharpeville 62 years ago. Sharpeville is also where president Nelson Mandela signed into law our constitution, with its Bill of Rights. These rights include freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom to demonstrate — the same rights denied to would-be marchers.
Freedom to protest is most profound when it protests against injustice. Freedom of expression serves its highest purpose when it is used to deepen other rights such as those to social security, health care and housing — rights routinely denied to people at the bottom of the economic ladder.
Operation Dudula has raised its voice, but by depriving others of their voices it has signalled it is not interested in honing its arguments. Poor South Africans, as usual, will be the losers. Have we learnt nothing from our history?