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Mobs turn on foreigners

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Werner Swart
May-12-08


VICTIM: Willex Katundu, of Malawi, one of 30 foreigners beaten in recent xenophobic attacks in Alexandra, Johannesburg Picture: HALDEN KROG

Several incidents of extreme xenophobic violence have been reported in recent months, characterised by assaults on foreigners and the destruction or theft of their property.

  • Last month, Pretoria police were on high alert after an outbreak of violence in Mamelodi East. Residents went on the rampage, beating foreigners and burning spaza shops and shacks. Police arrested more than 20 men between the ages of 22 and 40 .

  • Another clash linked to xenophobia took place in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, in March. A 20-year-old South African lost his life in the skirmish. Police reacted when a brawl broke out between locals and foreigners, leading to the man’s death.

  • Three foreigners were severely beaten at the Itireleng informal settlement, near Pretoria, in February. Residents reportedly confronted the men and accused them of being responsible for criminal activities in the area. The incident sparked clashes between the police and locals, and many immigrants fled the settlement .

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    Also in February, police were accused of promoting xenophobia after a raid on the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg.

    Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said : “The police action was entirely inappropriate, uncalled for and an unwelcome manifestation of xenophobia. It is not how refugees should be treated.”

  • Earlier this year, a Somali shop owner and another Somali were shot dead in what appears to have been a xenophobic attack in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, though police denied the link.

  • More than 20 shops owned by Somalis in the Somethemba settlement, near Worcester, in the Western Cape, were looted in March. L ocals stormed the shops following an attempted robbery at a store .

  • A 21-year-old Somali was shot at Kwanobuhle, in Eastern Cape, last week. I t is believed xenophobia was behind the attack. The gunmen fled empty-handed. A representative of the Somali Association of South Africa claimed that at least 100 Somalis had been killed in South Africa since 1997.

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    Source: The Times, May 12, 200

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