South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says protests against undocumented foreign nationals being witnessed in the country, is the result of the desperate poverty that many citizens endure.
Vavi was speaking at a seminar of the National Democratic Revolution in Houghton, north of Johannesburg.
He says the adoption by the state of a neo-liberal economic policy has resulted in the unemployment, inequality and poverty witnessed today and its consequences.
“When you allow those conditions, 62 percent according to the University of Cape Town living below the upper bound poverty level, and when according to Statistics South Africa you have 11 million people skipping a meal a day, they lead to two things. The levels of desperation will want people to blame someone, so they found a bogeyman now, and the person to blame is the most vulnerable in society. It starts with the African migrants and I can tell you it will go to tribalism. In fact, it is already there, so you have to blame somebody when you are desperate. “
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