The ACDP hopes the World Cup will unite all people of our beautiful land, boost our image internationally, strengthen our tourism sector, and that the event will be incident free.
Having said that, I want to raise some concerns that the ACDP has. I have spoken to the National Commissioner twice, including on Friday last week, about increasing threats of xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals in our country.
While the National Commissioner assured me that the police will not allow the attacks to take place during the World Cup, no assurance was given that they would not take place afterwards.
Many foreign nationals who have been advised by locals to leave the country for their own safety have already left, while many, we are told, are planning to leave early next month before the games begin. I want to ask the President to please look into this serious matter and ensure that the 2008 xenophobic attacks are not repeated after the World Cup.
This morning, I received a phone call from Pastor Minambo of the Audacity of Faith Church in Tembisa. He called to tell me that he has been forced to get out of Tembisa, because he is a foreigner. The windows of his church building have been broken on several occasions to force him out.
Local police have advised him to leave for his own safety because they cannot protect him or his family. So, he has decided to leave Tembisa to look for a place where he would be welcomed as a foreigner. Mr President, I believe this is totally unacceptable. If this sort of behaviour is allowed to continue and even servants of God are threatened with death just because they were not born in South Africa, then I believe that those perpetuating this evil will invite God's judgment on this nation for failing to protect the foreigners among us.
For the record, this Parliament must know, Mr President, that God places responsibility on government to protect foreigners among us.
What the ACDP would love to see after the World Cup is the return of spectators from all over the world, with their families, to our beautiful country, owing to the wonderful hospitality South Africans gave them.
Apart from the issue of security, our other concern is that of possible strikes that may take place during the World Cup. While our Constitution protects our people's right to strike, the ACDP is very concerned about the violence that often accompanies strikes in our country.
It is reported that informal traders are planning protests for being excluded from benefiting during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. Many of those in Gauteng claim that, and I quote:
During the building of the Soccer City, we provided food to most of the workers; therefore we feel we are not part of the process.
The ACDP urges the President to use his influence to ensure that this impasse between informal traders and Fifa is resolved amicably very soon, so that this aggrieved group does not resort to violent strikes during the games.
Reports about a train transporting petrol and diesel that was derailed between Durban and Johannesburg in an apparent sabotage action by striking Transnet workers are worrying. Why did striking workers fiddle with railway lines, loosen railway plates to cause the train to derail, throw rocks at locomotives and set some locomotives alight?
Such actions, particularly after the recent Rovos Rail train derailment that led to many tourists being injured and three workers losing their lives, have the potential of our railways and trains being declared unsafe by both locals and potential tourists, and we cannot allow that to happen.
We believe government should have negotiated an arrangement with the unions, particularly Cosatu, in that there would be no strikes during the World Cup as most strikes in our country turn violent, as happened this week.
The ACDP believes that even though the World Cup is in 29 days' time, it is not yet too late, Mr President, to try to get a settlement before the kickoff. We believe that commitment from all the unions is necessary so that we can ensure that our participation and the people of South Africa make the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup the greatest ever. And we believe that together we can. Thank you.