Operation Dudula heads to Durban, but bishops will encourage protesters to embrace the ‘stranger in our midst’

Durban - Operation Dudula is coming to Durban tomorrow.

The civil society movement has asked to meet the Diakonia Council of Churches and has been given police permission to do so.

Operation Dudula is a movement which says it wants to ensure that South Africans – and not undocumented foreigners – get jobs in the country.

The meeting will take place at midday at the Diakonia Centre, which is home to several non-governmental organisations, such as Refugee Social Services, Black Sash and Lawyers for Human Rights.

Reverend Musa Zondi, the chairperson of the Diakonia Council of Churches, said: “While we are unaware of the content of the petition, we surmise that, given the widely acknowledged stance of Operation Dudula against illegal foreigners in South Africa, they are targeting the Diakonia Centre because there are tenant organisations that work with fellow Africans from beyond our borders.”

Zondi said the work of these organisations was in line with the biblical mandate given to the churches to embrace the “stranger in our midst”.

“When a person presents themselves to any of the organisations in the Diakonia Centre they will continue to be treated with dignity and grace, and provided protection from forces that wish to harm or destroy – just as the protection that was provided to those who presented themselves at the centre during the apartheid era, when the then government sought to harm or destroy them,” said Zondi.

The Diakonia Centre was well known as an inner-city place of refuge for many during the apartheid era.

The Independent on Saturday