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| Scores flee as Gauteng attacks spread |
| May 18 2008 at 12:36PM |
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By Jeremy Gordin, Eleanor Momberg and Sapa "There were attacks all over the East Rand but the police were deployed and by yesterday afternoon things had quietened down - until, presumably, tonight," he said on Saturday afternoon. At least two people were killed and 60 were injured last week when Alexandra residents attacked immigrants in violent clashes starting on Sunday night. There were also attacks on immigrants in Diepsloot later in the week. More than 1 000 immigrants are now sheltering at the Alexandra and Bramley police stations, the SA Red Cross Society said. From talking to some of those staying at the police stations it seems it has been deep-seated and seething resentment about the lack of service delivery, coupled with unemployment, rather than "xenophobia", which has set off the ugly violence in which foreigners have been attacked and ejected from Gauteng communities. Japhet Moyo and Albert Moyo (no relation), who have lived in Alexandra since 1996 and 1992 respectively and are living at Bramley police station, said the front doors of their homes had been forced open at about 9pm last Sunday by a mob. They had been told to leave. Both fled in the direction of the police station. "They asked whether I was a Zimbabwean, and they told me to go back to Zimbabwe - but they told me I must I go because they wanted my house. They asked why I had a house but they didn't," said Japhet Moyo. Albert was adamant the men who came to his house were Zulus - carrying sticks and axes - from Alexandra's KwaMadala hostel. Director Theko Pharasi, station commissioner at Alexandra, said on Friday he too had heard "the rumours" that Sunday night's attacks had begun with a meeting at the hostel. "But I can't confirm that, because we haven't investigated that story yet," said Pharasi. "And I can't tell you what the causes of these disturbances are. People talk about xenophobia but the two people killed here in Alexandra were South Africans. "Look, it's a complicated business. I think there is trouble and resentment in the community, especially about housing and not having jobs. It's easy to blame foreigners, because there has a lot of news about Zimbabwe and locals are a little uncomfortable with foreigners. "But then I think thugs and criminal elements jump on the bandwagon. And then we have what we have now. But I believe we have stabilised the situation now - and it looks as though all the community leaders and organisations are pulling together. "I believe," said Pharasi, "that the trouble is over in Alexandra. But it's my experience that these community outbursts will flare up elsewhere". Attacks on foreigners recently plagued Mamelodi in Pretoria East, where local residents unleashed their anger at Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and other foreigners living in the Lusaka informal settlement. Similar attacks also happened in recent weeks in Atteridgeville in Pretoria West. They have been ongoing in the Olievenhoutbosch informal settlement, southwest of Centurion, for several months and South African nationals have alleged that foreigners, particularly Zimbabweans, had been awarded low-cost housing in preference to locals who had been on housing waiting lists for years. Pharasi confirmed that none of the foreigners thrown out of their homes would be deported but he declined to say when - or if - they would be taken back to their homes in Alexandra. "My job is stabilisation not re-integration," he said. All the Mozambicans and Zimbabweans at Alexandra and Bramley said they could not go back to their homes now - if they did so, they would be killed - and that all their possessions had been stolen. "I went back home to have a look," said Jonas Langa, a Mozambican who has a South African identity document and has been living in Alexandra since 1992, "and there was a lock on my door. My TV, DVD, everything I owned - everything is gone. I really don't know what I am going to do." Bheki Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean sheltering at Bramley and who has been living in Alexandra since 1997, said he knew the people who had come to his house and told him to leave or be killed and that, as far as he knew, they were living in his home at the moment. "They were neighbours," he said. "They were not from the hostel. They wanted my house and my things." The South African Human Rights Commission says it is concerned about the "copy cat" style of attacks happening in the province. Chairperson of the commission Jody Kollapen said there was an urgent need for the government, non-governmental organisations, churches and local communities to meet and come up with interventions to curb the xenophobia. "We need other interventions to deal with the xenophobia apart from the public condemnations," he said. Meanwhile, the South African Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for R1 million in support of the victims of the attacks. Spokesman Mbuso Mhtembu said the emergency fund would help with the living conditions of those affected.
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