The Congress of the People (COPE) rejects calls to offer Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe political asylum in South Africa, party leader Mosiuoa Lekota said in a brief statement today.
“We call upon all South Africans to resist any attempts to make our country the home of last resort of those leaders who have violated the human rights of the citizens of their very own countries,” Lekota said.
He said South Africa was a democratic and human rights-sensitive nation.
“Allowing a pariah and disgraced leader such as Mugabe asylum in our country would be an affront to the values and principles upon which our Constitutional Democracy is based.”
Lekota said that instead of allowing such leaders to make South Africa their home, South Africa should rather ensure that it remain a refuge of hope to those suppressed and defenceless citizens of the neighbouring country “who are being violated by their very own leaders.”
