The Sunday Mail
Bishop Chad Gandiya (centre) leads members of different church denominations in praying against xenophobia at the Anglican Cathedral in Harare last Friday
The Anglican Diocese of Harare recently gathered to pray against xenophobia while calling upon the South African government to bring the violence to an end.
Bishop Chad Gandiya queried where the spirit of unity had vanished to as South Africans turned violent against foreigners on their land.
“What has happened to the spirit of Ubuntu? We thought lessons had been learnt from the xenophobic attacks of 2008, but this is not so. As they say history is the best teacher but it has no pupils.
“As we cry out to our creator God we call upon the South African government to end this madness forthwith. We call upon the leaders to stop the hate speech and insightful language that give rise to this senseless behaviour.
“We call upon our Government and other African governments to impress on the South African government to give their all to stop these attacks and help each other work for lasting peace among all people anywhere on this continent,” Bishop Gandiya said.
He added that retaliation in any form would not be progressive for the African continent.
Zimbabwe Christian Alliance representative Mr Anselm Magaya called on the South African government to ensure that Africans continue to live in harmony.
“We are all Africans and we need to understand the different challenges that befall us. The essence of wickedness is when humanity doesn’t know Christ,” Mr Magaya
Reverend Jonah Gokova said South Africa needed to be reminded that during the apartheid era the Anglican members used to gather at the church to pray for them.
“Those in South Africa need to be reminded that the region made sacrifices to end apartheid. We used to gather in this very church praying for our brothers and sisters. SADC also need to be serious so that there is a protocol to ensure people crossing the borders enjoy the protection of those particular governments,” Rev Gokova added.
Catholic priest Father Oscar Wemter said violence would always breed more violence while creating worse problems than it sought to solve.
At least eight people were killed by machete-wielding mobs also armed with bricks and sticks who roamed the streets attacking anyone thought to be a foreigner.
More than 5 000 foreigners including Zimbabweans were displaced after xenophobic violence that erupted on March 30 in Durban before spreading to Johannesburg in the Gauteng province.
Recently widow to South Africa former president Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel hit out at the government’s handling of the xenophobia crisis, suggesting it was playing down the scale of attacks on foreigners.
According to The Telegraph, Machel was speaking at the funeral of Emmanuel Sithole, a Mozambican who was murdered by a gang in Johannesburg sparking outrage within the region.
