We call on the gov­ern­ment of South Africa to imme­di­ate­ly and unequiv­o­cal­ly con­demn Russia’s inva­sion of Ukraine, and call on Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin to stop this inhu­mane, vio­lent, mur­der­ous attack on the free peo­ple of Ukraine. 

‘There is no free­dom in silence…’ — Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist

We call on the South African gov­ern­ment to make its voice heard and reaf­firm the val­ues of human rights, respect for inter­na­tion­al law and democ­ra­cy that are cor­ner­stones of South Africa’s con­sti­tu­tion. 

Rus­sia is turn­ing Ukraine — a devel­oped nation with 43 mil­lion inhab­i­tants — into ruins. In just six days of war so far, Russia’s attack has sewn among its casu­al­ties many hos­pi­tals, kinder­gartens and civil­ian apart­ments. The death toll — cur­rent­ly over 2,000 civil­ians includ­ing more than 100 chil­dren — is grow­ing dai­ly. As attacks inten­si­fy, this death toll is like­ly not only to esca­late, but to esca­late more rapid­ly. More than one mil­lion Ukraini­ans plus thou­sands of non-Ukraini­ans (includ­ing South Africans) have been turned into refugees overnight. As you read this, inno­cent civil­ians are being mur­dered. Their homes, their coun­try and their lives are being destroyed.

‘For to be free is not mere­ly to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the free­dom of oth­ers.’ — Nel­son Man­dela, the first pres­i­dent of South Africa

Russia’s inva­sion of, and attack on, Ukraine is a clear vio­la­tion of the prin­ci­ples of ter­ri­to­r­i­al integri­ty and sov­er­eign­ty of the Unit­ed Nation’s Char­ter. Yet, the South African gov­ern­ment has failed to express the nec­es­sary con­dem­na­tion to show both Rus­sia and the world its sol­i­dar­i­ty with the glob­al cho­rus of nations stand­ing for peace, self-deter­mi­na­tion, decen­cy and sov­er­eign­ty. 

The con­se­quences of the Russ­ian inva­sion will not only hit Ukrain. It will also hit the most vul­ner­a­ble peo­ple in South Africa through hik­ing the petrol price; com­pound­ing food short­ages; esca­lat­ing finan­cial insta­bil­i­ties and slash­ing funds for devel­op­men­tal caus­es. 

The decades-long fight for self-deter­mi­na­tion and democ­ra­cy to free South Africans from the oppres­sive apartheid regime would have been infi­nite­ly more dif­fi­cult if the world had turned its back on the peo­ple of the coun­try. His­to­ry places a spe­cial duty upon the gov­ern­ment of South Africa to con­demn this inva­sion and attack on sov­er­eign­ty, free­dom, democ­ra­cy, the civ­il pop­u­la­tion and the insti­tu­tions of a free coun­try.

 ‘If you are neu­tral in sit­u­a­tions of injus­tice, you have cho­sen the side of the oppres­sor.’ — Arch­bish­op Emer­i­tus Desmond Tutu

We there­fore call on the South African gov­ern­ment to:

1)      Pub­licly — and with­out reser­va­tion — con­demn the Russ­ian inva­sion of Ukraine;

2)      Allow visa-free entrance into South Africa for Ukraini­ans whose fam­i­ly mem­bers are tem­porar­i­ly or per­ma­nent­ly liv­ing in South Africa.

3)     Tell Putin to stop this insane war.

‘The fight for free­dom must go on until it is won; until our coun­try is free and hap­py and peace­ful as part of the com­mu­ni­ty of man, we can­not rest.’ — OR Tam­bo, anti-apartheid rev­o­lu­tion­ary

#Stand­WithUkraine

#Sto­pRus­sianAg­gres­sion