THOSE who violated the rights of foreign nationals should be handed stiff sentences, National Freedom Party leader Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi said on Human Rights Day.
“Recently, we have witnessed gross violation of human rights when foreign nationals were tortured and attacked in various parts of our country,” she said in a statement.
“As our Constitution clearly states that, South Africa belongs to all those who live in it; I am of the view that the recent attacks on foreign nationals is a direct attack to our Constitution and therefore calls for a minimum sentence to be imposed against those who are perpetrators of such acts,” said KaMagwaza-Msibi.
She also called for action against men who violated underage girls under the pretext of ukuthwala.
The practise has become associated with the abduction of girls and their being forced into marriage.
“We must be able to identify crime when it is committed. Forcing young girls to marry old men under the pretext of practising our old culture of ukuthwala should be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” KaMagwaza-Msibi said.
“Evil and dirty men must not be allowed to commit crime disguising as practising this respectable tradition. On this Human Rights Day, we must all unite and denounce this act, which to me is equal to terrorism.”
She called for action to also be taken against parents who accepted the practise in exchange for goods.
