I cannot be silent

Monday, 15 February 1999

'First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me'
— Pastor Martin Niemöhler, victim of the Nazis

IT'S been little more than a year since I made Cape Town my home. It took less than a month to come to grips with the realisation that this most beautiful of cities is also, paradoxically, the most divided. As you go further east from Bishopscourt, each time you cross a railway line, the complexion of the locals gets to be darker, and the income levels and property values drop by at least 50%.

But there's a further dynamic that enters the picture. Those that lie between the Muizenberg and Cape Flats lines are more likely to be Muslim than those that are outside of that area. There are also a greater proportion of organised gangs, and there is also a greater proportion of self-appointed anti-gang crusaders such as Pagad.

Floating amidst this simmering crucible of social tension is the group calling itself Qibla. Little is known of Qibla outside of the Muizenberg and Cape Flats railway lines. Within them, Qibla is spoken of only guardedly, and in hushed tones of voice. There is an overwhelming undertone that drives the public discourse surrounding Qibla, and that undertone is fear.

Who is Qibla? What do they stand for? In an interview with the Cape Times last week, the organisation's leader Achmad Cassiem spelled it out. Qibla does not view the new South African dispensation as legitimate because it was a result of a sell-out process of negotiations that left the old police force, civil service, and other institutions — including criminals and gangsters — as intact as they were during apartheid. The wealth of the country was still in the hands of a few rich whites, particularly the Jews, Cassiem said.

I'll get back to Cassiem shortly. First, I want to tell you a story. A few weeks ago, Indian High Commissioner1 Manjiv Singh Puri hosted an evening of Quawali (a wonderfully invigorating and relaxing form of Islamic devotional singing born in India) at his official residence. Guest of honour was Western Cape premier Gerald Morkel. And Morkel began his usually witty discourse by saying that he could see, judging by the cars parked outside, that Indians were a community that had done well for themselves in Cape Town. Chuckle chuckle...

No one laughed.

There is a political discourse that takes place in this city. It mentally reinforces those physical divisions put in place by railway lines. And it is the likes of Cassiem and Morkel who give strength to that discourse. It is the offhand comment, the careless reinforcement of stereotype — whether the target be Jew or Muslim or Indian or Afrikaner — that ultimately manifests itself as hatred that claims lives.

But while there are many among the community Morkel claims to represent who will rise to confront his stereotyping of Indians, a deafening silence will greet Cassiem's comment about Jews.

But it must not be allowed. A half century has passed since the Holocaust, yet Jews — South African as any of us — cannot feel safe in this city simply because of the fact that they are Jews. Oh yes, I know that all of us are potential victims of random bombings and violent crime, but pipe bombs are thrown into synagogues — not temples, mosques, or churches. And while I continue to condemn the systematic decimation of the Palestinian people by successive Israeli governments, including that of Netanyahu, damned if I will let anyone get away with telling me that is a licence to direct hate against any group of people, Jew or gentile. Cassiem's comment, seemingly innocuous, will ultimately fuel hatred.

Qibla is an organisation that — by its leader's own admission — does not recognise the authority of the South African state as being legitimate. And therein lies the contradiction in its existence, because its first action on being disallowed permission to march in public on Al-Quds Day was to appeal to the courts for relief; a court representing a state that Qibla does not recognise. And it is the celebration of our country's Constitution that it is strong enough to give that relief even to those dedicated to its downfall.

That was our real victory in 1994. Someday, Qibla will realise this.

  • 1. He was actually deputy High Commissioner in charge of the Cape Town office.