[Marxism] (Fwd) Johannesburgers chose barbarism not socialism

[Patrick Bond]

(This has been a *really* rough week in Joburg, with gangs of apparently 
unemployed and low-income people terrorising immigrants, killing two 
dozen or so. All sorts of reasons for this are being hypothesised and I 
don't yet have a good enough handle to make a confident remark, much 
less analysis. But with 10 000 protests in SA recorded by the police 
each year since 2005, there's no guarantee that this social discontent 
will be channeled properly. Moreover, the ANC government's own hostility 
to low-skilled immigrants - in contrast to the desire for high-skilled 
immigrants - is now bearing an awful fruit, as the set of incidents in 
yesterday's UN report documents. One example is the police arrest of 
1500 Zimbabweans a few months ago, below.)

The Star

Police call on elite unit
Four platoons will help counter unrest as death toll climbs

May 20, 2008 Edition 2

Lebogang Seale, Alex Eliseev, Matt Radler, Louise Flanagan and Lee 
Rondganger

Police have stepped up a gear, and a disaster management system has been 
unveiled in the latest attempts to quell the xenophobic violence.

Now in its ninth day, the official death toll was 22, with at least 
seven people having died in the past two days.

Among the dead are two unidentified men - one "necklaced" and another 
attacked in Reiger Park on Sunday - and two pupils in Primrose. More 
than 220 people have been arrested.

Yesterday, the battle to contain the xenophobic violence continued, with 
incidents reported in Kya Sand, Reiger Park, Primrose and the Bree 
Street taxi rank, among others.

In Kya Sand, north-west of Joburg, a police helicopter hovered low, 
flipping from one direction to another - its blades what seemed like 
centimetres away from screaming residents darting for cover.

This took place when the police battled to bring a standoff between 
local residents and foreigners under control.

The violence in this area, which broke out on Sunday afternoon, was 
apparently sparked by a squabble between a section of local residents 
who accused a foreigner of robbing a South African woman of her jewellery.

Earlier, police were forced to intervene to stop a meeting between the 
two warring factions from taking place, out of fear that it could turn 
violent. But with the altercations still continuing, they finally 
relented and allowed the community leaders, including Democratic 
Alliance and ANC councillors, to address the groups.

Soon after the leaders started addressing them, both groups started 
pelting each other with stones, bricks and sticks.

It was at that time that a police helicopter that had been hovering at 
Zandspruit, near Honeydew, flew in to disperse the rioting mob.

Douglasdale police station Inspector Bala Muthan said four people were 
taken to Helen Joseph Hospital with serious injuries. At least eight 
others were arrested on charges of public violence.

In central Joburg, many businesses - run by foreigners or people who 
perceived they would be considered as foreigners - closed as fear of 
further looting spread.

National police spokesperson Sally de Beer said police in greater Joburg 
would be reinforced by four platoons from the National Intervention 
Unit: one from the Western Cape, another from KwaZulu Natal and two from 
Pretoria.

She said the unit was specifically trained to deal with medium- to 
high-risk situations, and while she would not give any details of how 
they would be deployed, she said they would rectify any shortcomings in 
the police's reaction.

The Gauteng Provincial Disaster Management Centre, launched yesterday, 
will track the scope and spread of the mob violence.

Chief director for disaster management and fire services Colin Deiner 
said a website, www.precinct web.com - where citizens could register to 
donate towards relief efforts, send in reports and share their opinions 
- had been set up.

MEC for Community Safety Firoz Cachalia said the scale of the unrest 
meant the province was using police officers who weren't trained in 
crowd control.

The violence was not just hatred of foreigners and was not all 
spontaneous, he added.

"There are people who are being drawn into a volatile situation. But 
there is definitely an element of orchestration," said Cachalia, who 
would not elaborate.

Here are some of the incidents witnessed by Star reporters:

nJoburg CBD: A group of people stormed the Bree Street taxi rank, 
breaking into foreigners' shops and looting them.Shopowners grabbed what 
stock they could and fled.

When word spread, many shops in the city closed, as did Chinese-owned 
stores in Cyrildene and Bruma, and shops along Louis Botha Avenue.

nZamimpilo informal settlement, Riverlea: The community fought the 
flames as a fire from a shack belonging to a Shangaan man spread.

"I'm not sure who started the fire, but I am sure it is all about this 
xenophobic thing that is going on. Now innocent people like me are 
suffering," Linda Mkefa said.

nRamaphosa informal settlement, near Germiston: A police helicopter 
circled the shacks. Below, police officers ran through the streets of 
the township.

A mob had just set a bakkie alight and fled, but the chopper zoomed in 
and directed the ground crew to their location.

In minutes, the police found the shack they were looking for and 
arrested nine men.

nDenver: Police said they dispersed a crowd of about 500 people who were 
marching from the hostels. The crowd is said to have fired live rounds, 
to which the police retaliated with rubber bullets.

nMedecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) estimated there were 
about 7 000 displaced people at police stations in Gauteng. It called on 
the government to help and protect the victims.

***

Fire and blood in SA townships
Sean Ritchie | Johannesburg, South Africa
19 May 2008 02:41

His legs soaked in blood and with scorch marks running down his back, 
the young man is lifted on to a makeshift stretcher after another bout 
of deadly violence in South Africa's so-called City of Gold.

His eyes blink, filled with tears, as he shudders slightly and tries to 
move before police calm him down and say he is now out of danger from 
the baying mob that had attacked in one of Johannesburg's teeming townships.

"I saw him riding on his bicycle and then he was attacked by the mob," 
said a woman in the Reiger Park township, too frightened to gave her name.

"He's been here, just lying on the ground, for ages."

The victim, who was too traumatised by his beating to give his name, was 
just one of dozens of victims of an orgy of violence on a scale not seen 
since the dog days of the whites-only apartheid regime, when followers 
of the Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party clashed with supporters of the now 
ruling African National Congress.

According to the police, at least 22 people have now been killed in 
township violence in and around Johannesburg since last week. Several 
hundred more have either been attacked or lost their possessions in 
attacks on their homes.

The violence has been confined to townships and downtown Johannesburg, 
and deeply disturbing newspaper front pages showing images of a human 
fireball have illustrated the levels of hatred that are fuelling the 
attacks.

Few residents of Reiger Park were prepared to speak to reporters, but 
one laid the blame firmly at the feet of Zimbabwean refugees, up to 
three million of whom are now believed to be in South Africa to escape 
the economic meltdown in their homeland.

"All these things are the fault of the Zimbabweans. They should just 
go," said the woman, who only gave her first name, Noxolo.

The Zimbabweans have been widely blamed in the impoverished townships 
for taking jobs in a country where nearly four out of 10 of the 
workforce are unemployed, and for the sky-high levels of crime.

The financial capital of the economic powerhouse of Africa, Johannesburg 
has long been a magnet for people across the continent.

As well as the Zimbabwean exiles, large numbers of immigrants from 
countries such as Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and the Democratic 
Republic of Congo have swelled the city's overall population at a time 
when the government is struggling to meet its commitments to move people 
out of metal shacks.

While the immediate target of the attacks appeared to be foreigners, 
many South Africans have been caught up in the violence, which 
politicians fear is now well out of control.

Even some township inhabitants feel the attacks are no longer solely 
directed at immigrants.

"It's not just foreigners. The owner of that container is a [South 
African] coloured guy and they opened it and stole everything," said 
another Reiger Park resident, Bongani, pointing out an empty container 
lying on its side in the street.

A quick assessment of the damage in Reiger Park on Monday morning saw 
large swathes of housing flattened and fires still littering streets 
covered in makeshift barricades.

Police attempting to bring calm to the violence-ridden township were 
mostly greeted with jeers and stones but some residents hoped they would 
be successful in restoring order.

Bongani has mixed feelings towards the police who are trying to restore 
order.

"I'm glad the police are here, but they shot me in the leg. I was 
standing in my own yard and they shot me for no reason," he said. -- AFP

***

Gauteng reels under xenophobic attacks
Mail & Guardian Online reporters and Sapa | Johannesburg, South Africa
19 May 2008 06:09

As the sun set on another bloody day of xenophobic violence in Gauteng 
on Monday, at least 22 people were reported dead, many more injured and 
217 arrested for fierce attacks on both foreigners and local residents 
living in the greater Johannesburg area.

The violence had started in Alexandra last week. By Monday it had spread 
to several other townships, as well as the Johannesburg CBD, as the 
South African Police Service dispatched experienced officers to the 
province and the National Intelligence Agency confirmed it was 
investigating the attacks.

Though many foreigners were targeted in mob attacks, causing thousands 
to flee their homes for the safety of community centres and police 
stations, South African citizens were also reportedly victimised, with, 
for example, Pedi and Shangaan people being told by Zulu antagonists to 
"go back to Limpopo".

"We will burn the Shangaans if they don't go back," were the chilling 
words of a 25-year-old man arrested for public violence in Ramaphosa on 
the East Rand on Monday as police deployed specialists to stop the 
xenophobic attacks.

"We will fight for this country. We will keep on going, they can't stop 
us," said the unemployed man, speaking to reporters through the bars of 
a holding cell at the Reiger Park police station.

He said he was proud of destroying a few shacks in the area. "I will be 
proud to meet the man who started this," he said, adding: "Foreigners 
are taking our jobs and our wives."

"Yes, we are investigating," National Intelligence Agency spokesperson 
Lorna Daniels told the M&G on Monday afternoon. She declined to divulge 
further detail about the nature of the investigation or possible leads 
the agency is probing.

Mbeki on Sunday said the attacks should be investigated to "see what 
lies behind it".

"We are interested to find out what could have sparked it off, and maybe 
we could find out if a particular person instigated it," he told the 
International Investment Council in Margate.

Deadly day
Earlier, police recovered the hacked body parts of a Malawian national 
on a sandy road in Ramaphosa township and, near Primrose, one person 
with Mozambican identification papers in his pocket was found dead. Two 
other Mozambicans were seriously beaten.

In Zamimpilo, outside Riverlea on the West Rand, at least 50 shacks were 
burned. Foreign nationals in the area were taken to safety at a 
community centre.

In Kya Sands, an industrial area close to informal settlements, groups 
of people began throwing stones at each other after a community meeting, 
but the situation was brought under control, said police spokesperson 
Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.

In the Jerusalem informal settlement, near Boksburg, police came under 
fire as they tried to stop a group of about 500 people from looting 
shops there.

Police in Cape Town were identifying possible flashpoints for xenophobic 
violence and would have units on standby, the city administration said 
on Monday.

"The spread of attacks on refugees and foreign nationals from Alexandra 
through Gauteng has prompted the city ... to ensure that similar 
incidents are not instigated on a similar scale in our city," mayoral 
committee member for safety Dumisani Ximbi said in a statement.

He appealed to communities and leaders across Cape Town to discourage 
any forms of violence or intolerance and to inform the police 
immediately of any incidents.

Seeking refuge
As evening approached in Reiger Park, local residents served tea and 
coffee to people seeking refuge and offered them accommodation for the 
night in their homes.

The engines of bakkies loaded with furniture belonging to people of 
Zimbabwean and Mozambican origin idled outside, preparing to leave the area.

Entire families camped outside -- women with babies on their backs, and 
young children who had been forced to skip school.

The South African Red Cross Society and the St Vincent's Anglican church 
next door helped provide shelter and aid.

At least 10 000 foreigners are taking shelter at community centres on 
the East Rand, said Ekurhuleni metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.

"The figures are escalating as people run for their dear lives," said 
Dlamini. Ambulances are "driving up and down," and clinics are on alert 
to deal with violence, as well as the medical needs of the displaced.

Aid provision
A joint operations centre had been set up in Bedfordview by Monday 
evening to coordinate humanitarian needs. Organisations such as the Red 
Cross and Oxfam were providing basic food supplies and aid to various 
areas in Johannesburg and on the East Rand.

“We are providing aid in the form of food parcels, blankets, sanitary 
packs and clothing to refugees, as well as first aid and psychological 
services to those in need,” David Stephens, acting secretary general of 
the Red Cross, told the M&G Online.

More than 2 000 blankets have been distributed, as well as R60 000-worth 
of basic food in the greater Boksburg area.

According to Stephens, government disaster-management services had been 
mobilised to manage aid provided to refugees, housed at various civic 
centres as well as police stations in and around Johannesburg. He said 
the situation could only be evaluated properly once chaos brought on by 
attacks had been brought under control.

Oxfam said it was providing assistance to more than 8 000 refugees in 
coordination with the Red Cross, Jesuit Refugee Services and municipal 
disaster-management teams in affected areas ranging from the 
Johannesburg CBD and Alexandra to Diepsloot, Kya Sands, Thokoza and 
Primrose.

Nombuso Shabalala, media and communications officer for Oxfam, said: "We 
are calling on the government for a more coordinated and effective 
response so that people’s basic needs and rights are met."

However, M&G reporters visiting Jeppe police station in the Johannesburg 
CBD on Monday said they saw little evidence of these relief efforts. 
There were long queues of refugees waiting to fill out Red Cross 
paperwork, but everyone the journalists spoke to claimed that they had 
not eaten all day and that they were forced to sleep in the open air 
without blankets.

A marquee tent had been set up at the police station for mothers and 
children, but the children were complaining of hunger and cold. At about 
2pm, a team from the Methodist Church arrived with boxes of apples and 
loaves of sliced bread and almost sparked a stampede.

Scores of blind Zimbabwean beggars who had been brutalised and robbed by 
the mobs were being pushed aside by the hungry crowds. Church officials 
tried to maintain order and insisted that the food be given to women and 
children first. For some of the hungry men who had not eaten for 24 
hours, this was a bitter pill to swallow.

The lucky few who did make it to the front of the queue were given two 
slices of bread and an apple each.

Criticism
Responding to the Democratic Alliance's criticism that the government's 
disaster response had been slow and basic requirements like toilets were 
not adequate, Dlamini said the response organisers would order more 
toilets and other necessities.

A consortium of NGOs also criticised the government's response, saying 
it was inadequate and the situation needed to be treated as a state of 
emergency.

The Treatment Action Campaign, saying that antiretroviral programmes 
should not be disrupted, "reluctantly" joined the call for the army to 
intervene.

A statement from acting police National Commissioner Tim Williams's 
office said that after a meeting of top police officials on Monday, it 
was decided to deploy additional members with "experience and training 
in reacting to medium- to high-risk situations" in Gauteng.

Willliams also thanked the police who had been working to try to control 
the situation under "extremely stressful conditions" and called on 
community leaders to help by talking within the communities they serve.

Mbeki's spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said the president was "very 
concerned" by developments and reiterated a call for the violence to 
stop. "We are taking these things very seriously," he said.

World Cup
Meanwhile, the international football fraternity understands that the 
xenophobic attacks are as a result of the conduct of some "disgruntled" 
individuals, the 2010 local organising committee (LOC) said on Monday.

Chief executive Danny Jordaan said the attacks would not deter people 
from coming to the World Cup as they understood the context in which the 
attacks were happening.

"Most people understand that the attacks arise from the conduct of 
disgruntled people. Many people around the world condemn this 
behaviour," he said, adding that it was evident to the international 
community that the attacks were not nationally endorsed.

Jordaan said the LOC condemned the attacks "unreservedly", though Fifa 
president Sepp Blatter has refused to comment on the effect the attacks 
may have on the World Cup.

***

Is Cape Town next?
19 May 2008, 18:17


Police in Cape Town are identifying possible flashpoints for xenophobic 
violence and will have units on standby, the city administration said on 
Monday.

"The spread of attacks on refugees and foreign nationals from Alexandra 
through Gauteng has prompted the city...to ensure that similar incidents 
are not instigated on a similar scale in our city," mayoral committee 
member for safety Dumisani Ximbi said in a statement.

He said the city's metro police and the SA Police Service (SAPS) had 
drawn up a "risk management plan".

"The metro police and the SAPS are identifying possible flash points and 
placing units on standby so that we can respond pre-emptively before any 
large mobilisation can take place," he said.

He appealed to communities and leaders across Cape Town to discourage 
any forms of violence or intolerance and to inform the police 
immediately of any incidents.

Metro police chief Bongani Jonas said his unit had a duty to protect the 
lives and property of all who lived in South Africa.

"We have noted with great concern that the perpetrators of these attacks 
did not hesitate to use live ammunition against unarmed and defenceless 
people as well as the law enforcement agencies," he said.

"Such acts will be met with the full might of the law."

Cape Town appears to have escaped the violence although a Somali 
shopkeeper was shot in the Durbanville area last Friday, the killing has 
not been clearly linked to xenophobia. - Sapa

***

Go back to Mozambique, men told in Durban gang attack

May 20, 2008 Edition 1

Kamini Padayachee & Ntokozo Mfusi

A group of Mozambican nationals from the Cato Crest informal settlement 
in Durban were assaulted at the weekend in what they say was a 
xenophobic attack.

Pedro Langu, 21, said yesterday that he and a friend had been attacked 
by a group of armed men at his house on Saturday night.

"They came in with knives and called us Amakwerekwere (foreigners) and 
told us we must go back to Mozambique. Then they started hitting us and 
one of them punched me in the mouth. They also took a DVD player, 
television and cellphone.

"They said they are going to come back for us.

"I do not think this is ordinary crime, I think it is linked to what is 
happening in Johannesburg. I am very afraid because they said we are 
taking their jobs and women so we are not welcome."

Langu said 12 Mozambicans had gone to the Cato Manor police station on 
Sunday to report the incident.

"But the police only took our names and phone numbers and would not take 
our statements. They said there were too many of us complaining about 
the same incident. They said the ward councillor will deal with the issue."

Among local people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, a fruit seller 
said the attackers were a group of youngsters spurred on by radio 
reports of attacks in Johannesburg.

"I heard them talking about it and they said if their brothers in 
Alexandra can do it why can't they drive the Amashangane (foreigners 
from Mozambique) out of their area."

Another South African said the Mozambicans were peaceful and 
hard-working people.

"Their only crime is that they are foreigners and they work hard while 
the youngsters here are lazy."

Cato Manor police Capt Robert Mbambo said that more than 10 foreigners 
had gone to the police station on Sunday.

"They said they had been attacked by South Africans. I told them they 
must open a case so we can deal with the matter. But then I had to leave 
the station because it was the end of my shift. I do not know if they 
opened any case. I also told the ward councillor about the people's claims."

Police spokesman Vincent Mdunge said there had been no reported 
incidents of xenophobia anywhere in KZN.

"There have been rumours of such violence in Mayville, but no incidents 
have been reported to us," he said.

Attempts to contact Cato Manor councillor Richard Mngadi were unsuccessful.

***


Burning the Welcome Mat


UN Integrated Regional Information Networks


NEWS
19 May 2008

Posted to the web 19 May 2008

Johannesburg



The death toll in a wave of attacks targeting foreigners around South Africa's main city of Johannesburg has reportedly risen to 32, with an estimated 6,000 people seeking shelter in police stations, churches and community halls.


Police spokesperson Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo was quoted in The Star newspaper as saying on Monday that the situation was calm in the townships of Alexandra, in northern Johannesburg, and Diepsloot, southwest of the city, where the attacks started last week.


However, the violence spread to Zandspruit, northwest of Johannesburg, and Tembisa, Primrose, Reiger Park and Thokoza, on the eastern perimeter of the city, as well as other working-class communities.


South African newspapers on Monday ran horrific images of people set alight by angry mobs who roamed townships during the weekend looking for foreigners and looting their shops and homes. In scenes reminiscent of anti-apartheid protest from the 1980s, the police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.


In the Troyville area, just east of the central business district and historically a migrant enclave, shops were closed on Monday night and the usually busy streets were quiet. An estimated 2,000 people had taken refuge in the nearby Jeppe Street police station after violence at the weekend.


A police officer, who asked not to be named, told IRIN that he did not expect the violence to end anytime soon, and the station needed blankets and food to care for the foreign nationals - mainly Zimbabwean, Mozambican and Angolans - who were sheltering on the premises.


President Thabo Mbeki announced on Sunday that a panel had been set up to investigate the attacks, but the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), a constitutionally mandated watchdog, accused the government on Monday of failing to take the threat of xenophobia seriously.


SAHRC chief executive Tseliso Thipanyane was reported in newspapers as saying that the sudden outburst was the result of festering anger at poverty, a lack of resources, and the large influx of immigrants.


An estimated five million people from almost every country in Africa have migrated to South Africa; three million of these are thought to be Zimbabwean, but the Department of Home Affairs has no record of how many migrants might be undocumented.


They are perceived as taking jobs in an economy with an estimated unemployment rate of 40 percent, but in which there is also a serious skills shortage.


Not a new problem


The following chronology looks back at the problem of xenophobia since South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.


1994


* The Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) threatens to take "physical action" if the government fails to respond to the perceived crisis of undocumented migrants in South Africa.


* IFP leader and Minister of Home Affairs Mangosutho Buthelezi says in his first speech to parliament: "If we as South Africans are going to compete for scarce resources with millions of aliens who are pouring into South Africa, then we can bid goodbye to our Reconstruction and Development Programme."


* In December gangs of South Africans try to evict perceived "illegals" from Alexandra township, blaming them for increased crime, sexual attacks and unemployment. The campaign, lasting several weeks, is known as "Buyelekhaya" (Go back home).


1995


* A report by the Southern African Bishops' Conference concludes: "There is no doubt that there is a very high level of xenophobia in our country .... One of the main problems is that a variety of people have been lumped together under the title of 'illegal immigrants', and the whole situation of demonising immigrants is feeding the xenophobia phenomenon."


1997


* Defence Minister Joe Modise links the issue of undocumented migration to increased crime in a newspaper interview.


* In a speech to parliament, Home Affairs Minister Buthelezi claims "illegal aliens" cost South African taxpayers "billions of rands" each year.


* A study co-authored by the Human Sciences Research Council and the Institute for Security Studies reports that 65 percent of South Africans support forced repatriation of undocumented migrants. White South Africans are found to be most hostile to migrants, with 93 percent expressing negative attitudes.


* Local hawkers in central Johannesburg attack their foreign counterparts. The chairperson of the Inner Johannesburg Hawkers Committee is quoted as saying: "We are prepared to push them out of the city, come what may. My group is not prepared to let our government inherit a garbage city because of these leeches."


* A Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) survey of migrants in Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe shows that very few would wish to settle in South Africa. A related study of migrant entrepreneurs in Johannesburg finds that these street traders create an average of three jobs per business.


1998


* Three non-South Africans are killed on a train travelling between Pretoria and Johannesburg in what is described as a xenophobic attack.


* In December The Roll Back Xenophobia Campaign is launched by a partnership of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the National Consortium on Refugee Affairs and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).


* The Department of Home Affairs reports that the majority of deportations are of Mozambicans (141,506) followed by Zimbabweans (28,548)


1999


* A report by the SAHRC notes that xenophobia underpins police action against foreigners. People are apprehended for being "too dark" or "walking like a black foreigner". Police also regularly destroy documents of black non-South Africans.


2000


* Sudanese refugee James Diop is seriously injured after being thrown from a train in Pretoria by a group of armed men. Kenyan Roy Ndeti and his room mate are shot in their home. Both incidents are described as xenophobic attacks.


* In Operation Crackdown, a joint police and army sweep, over 7,000 people are arrested on suspicion of being illegal immigrants. In contrast, only 14 people are arrested for serious crimes.


* A SAHRC report on the Lindela deportation centre, a holding facility for undocumented migrants, lists a series of abuses at the facility, including assault and the systematic denial of basic rights. The report notes that 20 percent of detainees claimed South African citizenship or that they were in the country legally.


2001


* According to the 2001 census, out of South Africa's population of 45 million, just under one million foreigners are legally resident in the country. However, the Department of Home Affairs estimates there are more than seven million undocumented migrants.


2004


* Protests erupt at Lindela over claims of beatings and inmate deaths, coinciding with hearings into xenophobia by SAHRC and parliament's portfolio committee on foreign affairs.


2006


* Cape Town's Somali community claim that 40 traders have been the victims of targeted killings between August and September.


* Somali-owned businesses in the informal settlement of Diepsloot, outside Johannesburg, are repeatedly torched.


2007


* In March UNHCR notes its concern over the increase in the number of xenophobic attacks on Somalis. The Somali community claims 400 people have been killed in the past decade.


* In May more than 20 people are arrested after shops belonging to Somalis and other foreign nationals are torched during anti-government protests in Khutsong township, a small mining town about 50km southwest of Johannesburg.


* According to the International Organisation of Migration, 177,514 Zimbabweans deported from South Africa pass through their reception centre across the border in Beitbridge since its opening in May 2006.


2008


* In March human rights organisations condemn a spate of xenophobic attacks around Pretoria that leave at least four people dead and hundreds homeless.


Sources include: Human Rights Watch, SAMP, SAHRC, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation


[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ] 

***

IFP refutes violence allegations
Party talks to ANC about attacks

May 20, 2008 Edition 1

BONGANI MTHEMBU and AYANDA MHLONGO

IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has rejected allegations that his party is fuelling xenophobic attacks on foreigners and the party has met with the ANC to work together in dealing with the attacks.

The ANC has met with the IFP to discuss the present wave of xenophobic attacks, the ANC's national working committee said yesterday.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the meeting had taken place because the flashpoints where the violence had occurred were places where there was an IFP presence. "Your structure must talk to our structure so there is no mud-slinging," he said.

He said the situation was such that anyone could jump on to the bandwagon and trigger a reaction.

The two parties had agreed to "isolate the criminal element" and work together with law enforcement agencies.

Mantashe said the ANC was looking at all possibilities of what might be behind the attacks. This could be anything, such as whether people felt there was a lack of service delivery or if there was some issue around RDP houses allegedly being sold for kickbacks. ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte said speaking to the IFP was a "purely proactive" step.

The latest outbreak of xenophobia began a week ago in Alexandra and has since spread to other areas in and around Johannesburg, including Cleveland, Diepsloot, Hillbrow, Thembisa, Primrose, Ivory Park and Thokoza. South Africans have been ordering people from their homes, stealing their belongings and putting padlocks on their houses.

Tony Ehrenreich, a Cosatu leader, allegedly made comments that a probe had to be launched into whether the IFP was fuelling the xenophobic violence in Gauteng.

Speaking at an amakhosi meeting in Ulundi yesterday, Buthelezi said he had sent five amakhosi to Gauteng after allegations were levelled against his party.

One of amakhosi sent by the IFP leader was former KwaZulu-Natal social development MEC, Inkosi Nyanga Ngubane. Ngubane said they had gone to Gauteng thinking that Zulu-speaking people were behind the attacks.

"We visited a number of townships and hostels where we were told that Zulu people were not behind the attacks. What we found was that most people, regardless of race, were of the view that foreigners were causing problems for them," said Ngubane.

The IFP's Koos van der Merwe said the call to probe his party was unjustified and uncalled for. Prof Patrick Bond of the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Civil Society said not enough is being done by the government to resolve the violence and attacks linked to xenophobia.

"A strong signal needs to be sent out to South Africans and those involved in the attacks that foreigners are human beings and deserve to be treated that way," he said.

Teacher unions have also raised concerns that the continuing violence could soon filter into schools.

The South African Democratic Teachers Union general-secretary Thulas Nxesi said: "We received a call from concerned principals who have received threats and ordered to chase out foreign teachers in their schools.

"We are concerned about this because we do not want political issues and those in the broader society affecting our schools," he said.

***

No xenophobic attacks in KZN - police
20 May 2008, 10:34
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Xenophobia is not an issue in KwaZulu-Natal, police said on Tuesday.

Superintendent Vincent Mdunge was responding to reports in the Mercury newspaper that a group of Mozambican nationals were assaulted at the weekend in what they described as a xenophobic attack.

"There has been no official case of any xenophobic attacks anywhere in KZN," Mdunge told Sapa.

The newspaper reported that the Mozambican group were at a home in Cato Manor on Saturday night when the incident took place.

"They came in with knives and called us Amakwerekwere (foreigners) and told us we must go back to Mozambique," alleged victim Pedro Langu said.

"They started hitting us and one of them punched me in the mouth. They also took a DVD player, television and cellphone," he told the newspaper.

Cato Manor police Captain Robert Mbambo told the Mercury that more than 10 foreigners had arrived at the Cato Manor police station on Sunday.

"They said they had been attacked by South Africans. I told them they must open a case so we can deal with the matter. But then I had to leave the station because it was the end of my shift," said Mbambo.

"I do not know if they opened any case."

Repeated attempts by Sapa to contact the community's ward councillor Bhekisisa Richard Mngadi and Captain Mbambo were unsuccessful. - Sapa 

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AN EARLIER PROBLEM WHICH PROVIDES CONTEXT FOR 'COPYCAT' ATTACKS

Thursday, 31 January 2008, 09:07 GMT
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SA police arrest 1,500 in church
	
Police conduct a raid on the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, 31 January, 2008
Bishop Verryn said the raid was a violation of the church's sanctity

The police raid
South African police have raided Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church, arresting around 1,500 homeless people and Zimbabweans.

Dozens of police, some heavily armed, raided the church compound, rounded up those there and took them away.

The police said they were looking for drugs, guns and illegal immigrants.

But Paul Verryn, the church's bishop, described the raid as a violation of the sanctity of the church. "I think it is despicable," he told the BBC.

'Violation of rights'

Bishop Verryn said he would have gladly co-operated with the police if they had asked for his help to search the building and check the papers of those inside.

He said the way the police handled those they arrested during the raid was a clear violation of their rights.

	
Police officers carry a man as they conduct a raid on the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, 31 January 2008

Raid in pictures

It was, he added, an attack on the very institution of the Church.

An AP news agency reporter said several doors had been forced open and a window smashed.

"Until now, I have not had any reports that guns were found," Bishop Verryn told the BBC's World Today programme.

Asked whether he should be providing shelter to people who may not have the right to be in South Africa, he said: "Absolutely."

He said he had been "bullied" by the police, who had grabbed him by the belt.

As well as the 1,200 homeless and Zimbabwean refugees who usually sleep inside the church, there were some 500 more on the grounds outside.

Some of those arrested, whose papers were in order, have since returned to the church.

Stiffening attitude

Wednesday night's raid is the first time the police have targeted the Central Methodist Church, which is widely respected as a shelter for some of the city's most desperate people.

The BBC's Peter Greste in Johannesburg says that until recently, the authorities had adopted a relatively tolerant approach to the hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans seeking refuge from the political and economic meltdown in their home country.

But as South Africa's own economy starts to strain, the government has begun to stiffen its attitude to refugees, our correspondent says.

An estimated three million Zimbabweans are believed to be living in South Africa.