On Tuesday morning the June 3rd I cried quietly while reading the Cape Times. Long suffering residents of Zola Township near Strand hurled petrol bombs and stones at law enforcement. They were being evicted for the second time this year.

While the City of Cape Town and the South African National Road Agency Limited (Sanral) argues about whom are responsible, young children and old women huddling in fear. Media reports coming from the traumatic eviction scene depicted our shared loss of humanity.

The rain, the wind, the cold and the muddiness intensified the sheer desperation of this inhumanity. While children and women looked around for their shoes and clothes in the mud, the City and Sanral argued about legalities and land ownership. Yes, the people were on the land illegally, but where must they go? With our limited housing budget, these people will remain on the housing list for decades. When a child comes home from school, to a shack, is that humiliation not enough?

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam we believe that when the unborn is in the mother’s womb, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sends an angel to blow into that womb some of the divine spirit of God. It is this spirit which gives life and makes us human.

When a government and its law enforcement agencies attacks and humiliates the divine spirit inside defenceless young children and old people, that administration loses its humanity.

Those who have fought for the authority to govern and have accepted the mandate of the people must know that they will be held accountable. Perhaps they may escape culpability in this reality but a reckoning will come. God is fully aware of those who harm his creation in this reality, just because they have the power to do so.

Cllr Yagyah Adams

Cape Muslim Congress

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