NLC rallies South African labour leaders against xenophobic attacks

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Joe Ajaero, NLC President

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*Demands crackdown on killing, violence against Nigerians, other migrants

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By Victor Ahiuma-Young

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The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has called on South African labour leaders to rise against the growing wave of xenophobic attacks targeting Nigerians and other African migrants in South Africa, warning that continued violence threatens the unity of the African working class.

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In a strongly worded letter addressed to the Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU, the NLC condemned the killings, intimidation, and destruction of businesses belonging to migrant workers, urging the South African government to immediately prosecute perpetrators and strengthen protection for affected communities.

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The letter, signed by NLC President Joe Ajaero, stressed that the crisis was not only a South African issue but also a threat to the entire African working class.

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The NLC said it was “watching with horror as the ghosts of nativism and xenophobia once again stalk the streets of South Africa”, stressing that African migrants were being attacked “not for any crime, but for the sin of being African in Africa”.

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“We are compelled by the blood of our fellow Black workers – Zimbabwean, Malawian, Mozambican, Somali, Nigerian, and others – who are being murdered,” the Congress stated.

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The labour movement further lamented the destruction of businesses and livelihoods built over many years by African migrants living and working in South Africa.

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“We are appalled at the destruction of livelihoods of Africans built through years of sweat and blood in the streets of South African towns,” the NLC said.

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According to the Congress, the xenophobic attacks were rooted in worsening economic hardship, unemployment, inequality, and neoliberal economic policies affecting workers across the continent.

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“The crisis of unemployment, housing, and social services in South Africa is real,” the letter noted, adding, however, that “the response of the ruling class has always been to turn the oppressed against each other.”

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“Our common enemy is not the migrant worker hawking goods in Soweto or mining in Rustenburg. Our common enemy is neoliberalism, capitalism’s most vicious mask,” the NLC declared.

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The labour centre called on COSATU to openly condemn the attacks and mobilise workers against xenophobia across workplaces and communities in South Africa.

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“We therefore call upon you, our sister labour centre, to lend your powerful voice without equivocation and condemn these xenophobic attacks in the strongest terms,” the letter read.

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The NLC also accused South African security agencies of failing to act decisively against perpetrators of the violence.

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“The passivity of the security forces in the face of these attacks amounts to complicity,” it said, demanding “the full deployment of state resources to protect migrant workers and their property.”

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The Congress further urged authorities to ensure swift prosecution of those responsible for the attacks and compensation for victims and affected families.

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“Perpetrators must be swiftly prosecuted, and families who have lost their loved ones, as well as workers who have lost their livelihoods, must be compensated by the state,” it added.

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Recalling Nigeria’s support for the anti-apartheid struggle, the NLC said African trade union movements were historically built on solidarity and collective struggle.

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“We cannot claim to fight for the working class while allowing a section of that class to be hunted like wild animals,” the Congress warned.

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The NLC also called for a continent-wide labour response to xenophobia through the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) and the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU).

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“Xenophobia is a cancer that, if not excised in South Africa, will metastasise across the continent,” the Congress warned.

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“There is no emancipation without solidarity. There is no liberation without the liberation of all African workers, regardless of passport,” the NLC stated.

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