SaharaReporters obtained a five-minute video where Khumalo was addressing the crowd and asking them to work together to solve the problem of foreigners.
A South African top advocate, Ike Khumalo, has been caught on camera inciting a crowd of South Africans in Soweto and asking them not to regard “fighting for one’s country” as xenophobic attacks.
SaharaReporters obtained a five-minute video where Khumalo was addressing the crowd and asking them to work together to solve the problem of foreigners.
He said, “Yes, we are all Africans - that's what they say. But unfortunately, this African unity is not going to be here. They will show you that you are in a foreign land. I'm a South African. I'm not a tourist. We must cater for everyone. All these problems don't belong to any political party.
“In the past, you tell us we were not educated, but if you go to a hospital, you will have to queue; foreigners are everywhere.
“There are people who think this issue does not affect them because they are doctors, nurses. But go to every suburb, you have foreigners. I don't see anything xenophobic in fighting for your country.”
SaharaReporters had reported on Thursday that violent groups Wednesday led a protest in Soweto, South Africa, calling for the expulsion of foreigners and non-nationals which led to tension in the South African city.
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SaharaReporters had learnt that the protest was tagged “Operation Dudula,” which saw violent groups calling for a protest against foreigners – a march which started at 8 am at a hall in the Diepkloof area of Soweto.
Posters encouraging violence were shared widely in the town, some of which were obtained by SaharaReporters, calling on non-nationals to leave the Soweto area before Wednesday, June 16.
It is not clear yet the steps South African authorities are taking on the matter, but the police were seen around the protesters trying to prevent them from breaking into people’s shops.
A local member of Operation Dudula, however, had claimed they were targeting criminals such as drug peddlers, cult members, and others.
Some other protesters claimed that they wanted “undocumented, immigrant business owners, to be removed from the area.”
Soweto is South Africa’s largest and most influential township, from where large xenophobic attacked originated in previous years.
A Nigerian lawyer based in South Africa had also confirmed the fresh protest in Soweto, saying since 2008, they have lived with the “ominous increase in xenophobic threats and attacks on an annual basis.”
The last pronounced wave of xenophobic attacks was around July 2019, when a Deputy Director-General of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Mrs. Elizabeth Ndubuisi, was murdered in her hotel room in South Africa, among other killings and violence.