By Hannah Roberts
Cape Times
Somali leaders have slammed the government’s slow actions in denouncing the recent attacks on Somali shopkeepers and communities as an attempt to “save image” abroad in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup.
The government had been in denial about the targeting of Somalis in the city, said members of a newly formed Cape Town-wide Somali committee at a meeting on Wednesday with senior DA figures Tony Leon and Helen Zille.
At least 10 Somalis have been murdered in Cape Town since the beginning of August.
“The government must accept responsibility and stop trying to save face” said spokesperson Abdifatah Ismail.
“What has happened, happened – and unless we all recognise the problem there will be no solutions.”
DA leader Tony Leon condemned the recent series of attacks on Somalis in which 10 people have been confirmed dead as “ethnic cleansing”.
Some members of the Somali community say the number could be as high as 31.
Leon said he was “shocked and disturbed at the way people appear to have been targeted in the most extreme forms of criminality and murder”.
“The Western Cape slogan of ‘A Home for All’ must be applied” he said, pledging the support of the DA in the struggle against xenophobic attacks and murders.
The DA’s support for the Somali community was “complementary rather than contradictory” to the party’s policy on tighter immigration controls, he said.
The City of Cape Town was focusing on getting the UN Commission for Refugees to open an office in Cape Town, Zille said.
The mayor praised the Somalis for their entrepreneurship in going into business in townships where investment was badly needed.
The city council had been working closely with the province to improve safety for all its citizens, Zille said.
However, the council had been excluded from important action planning meetings at the police level.
“We have been present at some meetings, but not at the critical top level,” she said.
Source: Cape Times, Sept 14, 2006
