South Africans celebrate death of 74 migrants in Joburg CBD but pray for Ukrainians

A disheartening trait emerged yesterday after a raging fire killed about 74 people, mostly illegal immigrants, at a hijacked building. The incident that took place in Johannesburg Central Business District left many grieving but some South Africans are celebrating instead of showing ubuntu.

Some comments made by xenophobic South Africans have sparked outrage as they are showing a lack of compassion.

They blame illegal immigrants for hijacking abandoned buildings and causing the fire because of lack of ‘safety and health standards’.

Zimbabweans and Nigerians have been named as the people living in the building that had been turned into a shack settlement.

Some South Africans too were among the affected but xenophobic elements still blame migrants.

For instance, one South African openly said on social media;

“Makwere kwere are not human, they are leeches, parasites and evil criminals terrorizing South Africans in their own country. Worst of them are zimbos (Zimbabweans)”.

Read Also: Zimbabwean woman Alice Garo survives Joburg fire, frantically searches for her two missing children

A popular South African social media blogger Man’s Not Barry Roux has, however, condemned such behaviour saying;

“I wish y’all prayed for countries in Africa as much as you pray for countries in Europe that don’t even accept you. Today Some of you are rejoicing over the death of 80 black people who stayed at a hijacked building in Jozi CBD because there were illegal immigrants. We are sick.”

I wish y'all prayed for countries in Africa as much as you pray for countries in Europe that don’t even accept you. Today Some of you are rejoicing over the death of 80 black people who stayed at a hijacked building in Jozi CBD because there were illegal immigrates. We are sick pic.twitter.com/BHmMRHbYJj

— Man’s NOT Barry Roux (@AdvoBarryRoux) September 1, 2023

MMA Calls For Compassion

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) has urged media houses and journalists to exercise compassion when reporting on the fatal fire in the Johannesburg CBD, where more than 70 lives were lost in the tragedy.

The organisation says via a statement ‘that coverage of the crisis raises three critical areas for concern.’

“Firstly, the critical need for media to report and adhere to highest ethical standards, in reporting on an unfolding tragedy, secondly, the need to avoid harmful xenophobic and inciteful content on social media platforms and finally for public officials themselves to adhere to their oath of office and to ensure their responses are in line with their constitutional obligations,” further reads the statement.

Xenophobic Attacks Condemned

A socialist shack dwellers’ movement in South Africa, Abahlali Basemjondolo, has roundly condemned xenophobic utterances by some South Africans and politicians being insensitive to the grave incident. I a statement, they said.

“We are sad to the depth of our souls. We are also deeply, deeply angry. We are angry that the poor are left to live in life threatening conditions. We are angry that politicians from both the ANC and the DA have swept in like vultures to blame both the victims and progressive lawyers, lawyers who are on the side of the poor. We are angry at the xenophobic organisations and individuals that have celebrated the fire because some of the people who have lost their lives are migrants. This is deeply sickening. It is pure fascism and must be named and contested as such. People who revel in the suffering of others because they were born in other countries are enemies of humanity. Nobody is poor because their neighbour was born in another country. All over the world the politicians that serve the rich encourage this nonsense to turn the poor against each other and protect the rich from the anger of the people. All over the world the left works to build unity among the poor and the working class to challenge the power of corrupt and repressive politicians and capitalism to ensure a decent life for all. A neighbour is a neighbour, a worker is a worker and a comrade is a comrade irrespective of where they were born. If you live in Johannesburg you are from Johannesburg. We call on all people of good conscience to oppose this sickening xenophobia clearly, directly and bravely, and to work to build the unity of the oppressed across South Africa. We stand with the progressive lawyers who work with and for the poor. The statements by politicians like Colleen Makhubele and Malusi Booi are disgraceful and an affront to logic and to human decency. We demand that the politicians and the state accept responsibility for this disaster and commit themselves to ensuring decent and safe living conditions for all. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that all people in the country have access to safe and decent homes and to support the self-organised initiatives from below to secure housing. As Africans it is our belief that we must mourn with the families that are grieving for their loved ones. It is very unfortunate that there are people who have lost their humanity and continue to blame the poor for their suffering even when they are grieving. Our hearts and souls are with the families of those who lost their lives in this devastating fire. May they find comfort at this difficult time.  Issued by Abahlali Basemjondolo  Issued by Abahlali Basemjondolo