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Regional
youth meeting condemns xenophobia
Stephen Matenga
May 27, 2008
Young people
from the Southern Africa region have condemned "in strongest
terms" the ensuing xenophobia related violence and attacks
on foreigners in South Africa. The young people, attending a
regional meeting on Public budget commitment to health and management
of donor funding on HIV/Aids in Africa, have described xenophobia
as a form of apartheid compromising human dignity, Pan-Africanism,
a shared history and a shared destination of the African people.
Mr. Mzwakhe Sigudla, President of the host organization, The Southern
Africa Youth Movement (SAYM), said these attacks of Africans by
Africans are tantamount to a 'dog eat dog' scenario. "Xenophobia
is an evil, it is unjustified, barbaric and strongly condemned,"
he said Thursday, in his opening remarks to the two day meeting
which started by observing a minute of silence for the victims of
these brutal attacks engulfing South Africa.
The meeting sought to empower young people from Southern Africa
with skills to monitor their governments' commitments and implementation
of the 2001 Abuja Declaration of the Africa Union where governments
agreed to channel 15% of their national budgets to health. it is
however unfortunate that none of the SADC states has met that target.
to enlighten the young people on legislative advocacy options and
strategies for ensuring the implementation of regional and international
protocols and Declarations, two Members of Parliament, Blessing
Chebundo and Themba Godi of Zimbabwe and South Africa respectively,
addressed the meeting.
Meanwhile, Morgan Tsvangirai, the President of the opposition MDC
in Zimbabwe has visited and addressed xenophobia victims in South
Africa urging them to 'go back home and defeat Mugabe.' Tsvangirai
has since returned to Zimbabwe after getting government assurances
for his security.
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