Hon Speaker, it is with deep sadness and regret that we are once more confronted with the death of a person as a result of religious intolerance. Mr Mohammed Kazi was brutally attacked by two white Afrikaans-speaking men, who hurled racial abuse at him before viciously and fatally wounding him.
This kind of racial and religious intolerance is unacceptable in a society that is tirelessly trying to ward off the yoke of apartheid's legacy of racial discrimination and heal a traumatised nation. At the recent Social Cohesion Summit, discussions focused on building a caring and proud society. We acknowledge that the inequalities and disparities that exist among our communities often lead to conflict and breed intolerance. We need to speed up our socioeconomic transformation because building social cohesion and uniting the nation cannot be fully realised if the gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow disproportionately. The tragic death of an innocent man because of his faith points to deeper fissures in our society.
Crimes related to racism, religious bigotry, xenophobia and Islamophobia cannot and will not be tolerated. We are pleased that the two suspects have been taken into custody and hope that the law deals with them harshly. We offer our condolences to the family of Mr Kazi and wish them much strength during their bereavement.