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30 May 2008

The lead story in today's edition of the Cape Times (30 May 2008), under the headline "Government rejects calls for United Nations help" creates a one-sided representation of what transpired during the debate in Parliament yesterday.

Firstly, the article misses the fact that so much of the exchanges in Parliament related to the outrageously xenophobic and anti-African statements made by the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) Dianne Kohler-Barnard in whose mind "the undetected flow of illegal foreigners into our country places an enormous strain on our state system and further exacerbates social conditions that breed crime, unemployment and lack of access to basic services.

Then, in respect for calls for the involvement of the United Nations, Ms Sandra Botha, leader of the DA, called for the involvement of "the blue helmeted UN staff". This is an obvious reference to UN peacekeepers, the only "blue helmeted staff" in the United Nations. The terms under which the involvement of peacekeepers could be called upon are defined in UN protocols and require a mandate from the UN Security Council for any peacekeeping operation. There are different categories of peace and security activities which fall under the UN, of which peacekeeping is one them. Peacekeepers are normally deployed to support the implementation of a ceasefire or comprehensive peace agreement.

In respect of UN assistance for humanitarian needs, the call was based on the sentiment expressed by the Honourable Botha that government was caught napping when the violence erupted and so was not ready to deal with the humanitarian calamity. Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, expressed the view that disasters, whether natural or manmade, always tend to catch governments unaware. Minister Manuel pointed out that even the well-resourced government of the People's Republic of China was caught unaware by the recent earthquake and even weeks after the event were still battling to house the people displaced by the quake. Two weeks ago, nobody, certainly government or Member of Parliament could have anticipated the heinous events we saw unfold in different townships.

One should be able to distinguish between calls that are founded and rational and those that emanate, sometimes irrationally from the benches of the opposition. President Thabo Mbeki has issued strong instructions to provincial Premiers and the Ministerial Task Team to ensure that the security forces deal decisively with the perpetrators of the violence. The police have thus far arrested more than 1 300 people and Special Courts are being set up to speed up the prosecution of the perpetrators of the violence. Government has also pledged to work closely with organs of civil society to ensure that secure and decent temporary shelter is provided to those who have been displaced by the violence.

As government, we will work closely with all affected communities, towards the reintegration of foreign nationals back into communities as soon as possible. We believe our energies should be spent on working together and finding solutions to this problem facing our country.

Enquiries:
Themba Maseko
Cell: 083 645 0810

Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
30 May 2008