SA police seize 30 as anti-foreigner attacks simmer

JOHANNESBURG, Saturday

South African police detained more than 30 people overnight as xenophobic violence simmered around the economic hub Johannesburg, officials said on Satuday.
Anti-foreigner violence that erupted in the country’s eastern port city of Durban several weeks ago has so far left at least six people dead, spreading to Johannesburg, displacing thousands and sparking alarm at the United Nations and in neighbouring countries.

Overnight, small groups attacked shops in several areas around Johannesburg, police said.

“More than 30 people were arrested last night. At this stage, the situation is calm but we plan to increase our deployment,” police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini told AFP.

“They are going to be charged for public violence, malicious damage to property, house breaking and theft,” he said.

Police had to use rubber bullets to disperse the looters in Alexandra, an impoverished township north of the city, he said.

Several thousand foreigners have fled their homes to shelter in makeshift camps amid the violence, and neighbouring Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique announced plans to evacuate their citizens.

Most of the victims targeted “are refugees and asylum seekers who were forced to leave their countries due to war and persecution,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees noted.

The latest burst of anti-foreigner violence in the country has been largely blamed on a speech last month by King Goodwill Zwelithini, traditional leader of the Zulus, in which he blamed foreigners for South Africa’s high crime rate and said they must “take their bags and go”.

The king has since said his words were misinterpreted, but for some, Zwelithini simply articulated what many were feeling.

A REPEAT

This is not the first wave of anti-foreigner violence in South Africa.

In January, foreign shopkeepers in and around the vast township of Soweto, south of Johannesburg, were forced to flee and six were killed as looters rampaged through the area.

And in 2008, 62 people were killed in xenophobic violence across the city’s townships.

The latest killings yesterday made South African President Jacob Zuma to cancel a state visit to Indonesia, a statement from his office said.

Zuma “has cancelled his visit to Indonesia in order to attend to matters at home relating to the attacks on foreign nationals,” his office said.

The decision came amid growing alarm within South Africa — and rising outcry abroad — over a surge of attacks against foreigners that have left several people dead.

“We reiterate our message that there can be no justification for the attacks on foreign nationals. These attacks go against everything we believe in,” Zuma said in the statement on his cancelled visit.

“The majority of South Africans love peace and good relations with their brothers and sisters in the continent. We will engage stakeholders next week as we need all leaders to work together to bring the situation to normality. Working together we will be able to overcome this challenge.”