Xenophobic attacks on migrant workers rising in South Africa

Africa, News April 19, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

At least six people have been killed in attacks targeting shops and homes of foreign nationals

South Africa is facing a backlash from the rest of the continent over the targeting of immigrants in a wave of xenophobic violence.

Foreign nationals in South Africa are seeking protection as xenophobic attacks hit at least nine provinces. In Verulum, KwaZulu Natal, people have fled their homes and are now living in tents behind a police station.

South Africa is home to some 5 million immigrants who come from across Africa and further afield.

South African President Jacob Zuma canceled a state visit to Indonesia in order to deal with the ongoing violence and protests in South Africa. On Saturday he visited Chatsworth camp, south of Durban, and handed over a 50,000 rand ($4,100) cheque for victims of xenophobic violence.
“We are certainly going to stop the violence,” Zuma told hundreds of displaced African immigrants at the camp in a speech.

The latest outbreak of violence against immigrants in South Africa flared up two weeks ago after the Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini was reported to have said that foreign nationals must pack their bags and leave.
Members of the Zulu ethnic group took this as an invitation to attack foreign nationals from countries including Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Somalia and Ethiopia.

“They started beating us, looting our shops, taking our belongings and we had no power, we had to call the police and when the police came they couldn’t control the situation. They just escorted us to the police station,” said one of the people affected.

The tit-for-tat measures follow a surge of attacks on foreigners in Durban, Johannesburg and other parts of South Africa, in which at least six people have been killed, more than 5,000 displaced, and shops looted and razed. Most of those affected “are refugees and asylum seekers who were forced to leave their countries due to war and persecution”, the UN high commissioner for refugees said.

Many jobless South Africans accuse foreigners of taking jobs in a country where the unemployment rate is 24%.

Hundreds of people participate in a peace march in Durban(Rogan Ward/Reuters)

Meanwhile a peace rally against xenophobia was held in South Africa’s coastal city of Durban following attacks on foreigners. A march by an estimated 10,000 people against xenophobia has been met with clashes between locals and the police after they tried to march on a gathering attended by ministers and KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu.

Protesters marched through Durban chanting “Down with xenophobia” and “A United Africa”, led by the city mayor and the premier of KwaZulu-Natal province.

On Wednesday (15.04.2015) the premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, Senzo Mchunu, and three ministers were instructed by President Jacob Zuma to visit the trouble-hit areas to reassure foreigners and restore order.

“There is no reason to attack other Africans, no reason at all. In South Africa nobody should feel unsafe because of other South Africans,” Mchunu said.

Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba said nobody has the right to take the law into their own hands.

“The police will act to bring violence to a stop. We will arrest and prosecute to send the correct message. We must protect those who are under attack and who are being victimized,” Gigaba said.
Foreign nationals have welcomed the government’s call but many of them still feel unsafe.

The African Diaspora Forum, a federation of African migrants assoociations in South Africa, says it is concerned that the xenophobic attacks which started in 2008, killing 62 people, 40 of them foreign nationals, had only escalated and more people have died over the past six years.