Mayor Cyril Xaba: ‘My firm remarks was directed at those who chose to be disorderly and disrespectful’

The video in which eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba is seen telling Yeshelen Govender, a civil society humanitarian activist, to "Shut up your mouth".

FOLLOWING a recent video of eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba telling a South African activist that he must “shut up his mouth” and that “he is not African”, his office said his remarks were directed specifically at those who chose to be disorderly and disrespectful, undermining the process of finding a peaceful and lawful solution.

In the video which was shared on various social media platforms, Mayor Xaba can be heard telling Yeshelen Govender, a civil society humanitarian activist to “shut up your mouth” after he was interrupted while addressing refugees seeking assistance in Sherwood, Durban on June 16.

It is believed that Govender, together with various other civil society organisations, assisting more than 300 refugees from various African countries, who have been displaced after having been forced to leave their places of residence in different parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

They had been seeking assistance from the Durban Refugee Reception Centre, operated by the Department of Home Affairs, in Che Guevara Street, Durban since early this month.