Youth from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and various areas of South Africa that are in Johannesburg for a conference, will join the People’s March Against Xenophobia on 23 April 2015.  

The conference, convened by African Monitor, taking place from 20 April to 24 April has been discussing ways in which global partnerships critical for Africa’s sustainable development can be created.  

“Our organisation is now part of the organising team for the People’s March Against Xenophobia which will march on Thursday,” says Namhla Mniki-Mangaliso, Director for African Monitor.  

The team includes faith-based organisations, trade unions, NGOs and corporate South Africa and organisers are expecting over 30,000 people to march through Johannesburg in a spirit of unity.  

“Each of us at the conference felt that it is essential that we, as a mixed group of people consisting mainly of youth, take a stand against Xenophobia. We will therefore march with the thousands who are also against the atrocities recently experienced.  

"We are calling for calm and unity to deal with Xenophobia. It is important that people realise that we cannot turn against each other now, but instead we should champion a joint agenda for development in Africa”.  

Ms Mniki-Mangaliso says that extreme underdevelopment, exclusion, inequality and insecurity are the underlying causes leading to the kinds of attacks that we are seeing in South Africa as well as in various parts of the continent.  

“A major solution is to urgently address Africa’s development needs. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda aims to do this. We want commitment from ALL African governments to this agenda. And this can start right now with South Africa.  

“Africa must band together. No more in-fighting.  We need to do all we can to ensure that our governments commit and actively do what needs to be done to reach the SDGs by 2030”.  

The panel discussion planned for Thursday, 23 April 2015 will still go ahead. It will now start at 09h30 and end at 11h30. Attending the panel will be Dr Sall, Senior Adviser to African Union on the post-2015 agenda; Zaheer Laher, Senior Official from SA Department of International Relations and Cooperation representing the South African government; Chris Wake, Head of global development from Department for International Development Southern Africa representing the UK government and a representative for the United Nations.  

The conversation will be highly interactive, which will enable members of the media to ask questions from the floor.  Media will also be able to interact with the youth during the march as they will wear T-Shirts and have banners identifying themselves as part of the African Monitor group.  

The panel discussion is closed to the public, but media are invited. The venue is The CedarWoods of Sandton, 120 Western Service Rd, Woodmead. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to confirm attendance.  

The Post-2015 Development Agenda refers to a process led by the United Nations that aims to help define the future global development framework with SDGs that will succeed the UN Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight global development targets which come to an end in 2015.  

For more information on Voice Africa’s Future, go to www.africayouth2015.org or www.africanmonitor.org.  

Be part of the conversation on Twitter regarding the March by using the following hash tags: #StopXenophobia, #NotInMyName, #StandInSolidarity, #Xenophobia and #PeoplesMarchX.  

African Monitor was established in 2006 as an independent continental body to monitor development funding commitments, funding delivery as well as the impact on grassroots communities and to bring strong additional African voices to the development agenda.   Its vision is for an African continent rapidly achieving its development potential, whose people live in dignity, in a just society where basic needs are met and where human rights are upheld and good governance entrenched.  

ISSUED BY QUO VADIS COMMUNICATIONS ON BEHALF OF AFRICAN MONITOR  

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