S. African president promises maximum protection to foreign nationals

South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday met with leaders of organizations representing foreigners, assuring them of maximum protection.

The meeting, taking place at the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria, came after weeks of xenophobic violence directed against foreign nationals in parts of South Africa.

Zuma said his government is doing all within its power to ensure that the attacks never happen again.

Both Zuma and leaders of the foreign nationals' organizations emerged from a five-hour closed door meeting, describing the meeting as the best strategy undertaken by the government so far in eradicating xenophobic violence once and for all.

Zuma said foreign nationals are more than welcome in South Africa and no one has a right to attack them.

He also announced that a special government committee working with foreign nationals has been established to give foreigners swift access to the government when they want to raise concerns.

"I think all of us have agreed that the majority of people in this country are not xenophobic but there are just a few who use the situation for their own ends.

"We have therefore agreed to work together because we certainly don't want this to happen again," Zuma said.

Leaders of foreign nationals used the meeting to raise a number of concerns ranging from problems in getting residence permits to lack of punitive measures for those who commit the attacks.

However, Marc Gbaffou, Chairman of the African Diaspora Forum, admitted that the frank discussions they had with Zuma and assurances given in dealing with the few who target foreigners has no doubt made them believe that xenophobic attacks will soon be things of the past.

Gbaffou said, "We would like to thank President Zuma for spending the whole day talking to us. We now can see that the few people who perpetrate violence against foreigners have no place in South Africa and they are not sent by the government.

"I am pleased that the government has promised to work around the clock to put them in prison where they belong."

He added that as foreign nationals they will also do their best to ensure foreign nationals abide by the laws of the country in order not to attract resentment from locals, who sometimes accuse them of perpetrating crime.

Bishop Dulton Adams, Chairman of the Migrants Community Board, used the occasion to make a plea to South African nationals.

"We want to call upon our brothers and sisters in South Africa not to resort to violence and looting. There is no need to kill each other.

"Let us work together and dialogue with each other," said Adams.

Zuma said he is confident that the internal and external offensive moves that his government has taken to crash xenophobic violence once and for all will bear positive results.

On the regional front, the SA Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation has engaged African diplomats on the attacks and assured them that the government has adopted a zero tolerance stance to all forms of violence directed at foreign nationals.

Within the country, Zuma has directed his ministers to go into the communities and preach the message of peace and tolerance. Several marches and meetings against xenophobia have been held throughout the country, rallying thousands of South Africans in the fight against xenophobia.

Zuma has also deployed the army to assist the police in patrolling the xenophobic violence hotspots in both Johannesburg and Durban.

Zuma himself has held a series of meetings with different community leaders and stakeholders and urged them to help the government in fighting the scourge of xenophobia.

With no incidents of xenophobic violence having been reported in the past days, leaders of foreign nationals said they have no doubt that the worst is over and they will now live a normal life again. Endi