President Ramaphosa: ‘acts of wanton violence’ must stop in South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday broke his silence on the “acts of wanton violence” against foreigners, and gender-based violence sweeping across South Africa.

Speaking in a two-video thread posted to Twitter, President Ramaphosa “condemned the violence” and noted that “we do not allow and cannot tolerate attacks on people from other African countries, and indeed from other countries, completely”.

This comes after violence against foreigners have flared up across South Africa’s cities, including Pretoria and Johannesburg in recent weeks.

“These attacks are completely against the rule of law,” he added.

“We want it to stop and I want it to stop immediately.”

The people of our country want to live in harmony; whatever concerns or grievances we may have, we need to handle them in a democratic way. There can be no justification for any South African to attack people from other countries. pic.twitter.com/StGyNlhV1q

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 3, 2019

While President Ramaphosa takes a stance against attacks on foreigners, he failed to mention the recent death of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana, and the planned protests to highlight gender-based violence planned across South Africa in the video.

He did however issue a statement prior to the upload.

Ramaphosa speaks against gender-based violence

“This is a very dark period for us as a country,” he stated in a release. “The assaults, rapes and murders of South African women are a stain on our national conscience.”

“The murder of these two young women; one at the hands of a stranger and the other killed by a man who was reportedly her boyfriend remain a stark reminder that the women of South Africa are not safe, either in their homes or in the streets.”

“The President has sent his deepest condolences to the Mrwetyana and [SA boxing champion Leighandre] Jegels families and urges all South Africans to keep them in their thoughts during this very traumatic time.”

“The President will be meeting with the leadership of the police later on today to be briefed on, amongst others, steps being undertaken to stem the tide of gender based violence in the country,” he concluded.

The hashtag #DearMrPresident continues to trend across South Africa at the time of writing.

Feature image: screenshot, @CyrilRamaphosa via Twitter