Durban - Tensions remained high in the Durban and Pietermaritzburg city centres on Wednesday as many foreign-owned shops closed in fear of further xenophobic attacks.
A police statement on Wednesday said five people had lost their lives in the various attacks around Durban.
The provincial and local government plan to hold a peace march at 10am on Thursday to be led by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu and eThekwini Mayor James Nxumalo.
In Durban dozens of police officers patrolled the city centre and some shops were closed for a second day after looting and assaults, which spread to Phoenix and Verulam on Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday there was a tense stand-off between police and a local gang trying to attack foreigners at the corner of Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street (Grey) and Dr Goonam Street (Prince Edward). The locals, who appeared to be largely made up of vagrants, told police a Somalian had pointed a firearm at them from the balcony of his flat.
Police averted a clash by instructing the foreigners to lock themselves in their building and the locals to disperse. The foreigners complied but some locals resisted, prompting the police to use pepper spray to move the crowd. The crowd then gathered a block away, pelting foreigners with stones. Police rushed back and arrested one man.
Kapele Mutachi, for the Congolese Solidarity Campaign, said things remained extremely tense in the city yesterday. Most of the foreigners opted to remain “waiting” in the Mahatma Gandhi Road (Point) vicinity.
“Everyone is outside. Police are everywhere but tensions are high because people have received messages from yesterday saying people are coming to attack. He said foreigners were fed up.
“They are saying that whatever can happen must happen. They are ready to retaliate. We don’t understand why our own brothers want to attack us,” he said.
The Workshop’s flea market was quiet with no stalls operating.
Meanwhile rumours of violent attacks circulated on social media including an allegation that children had been burnt during an attack in Reservoir Hills, which police have since said was untrue.
In Pietermaritzburg foreign and local business owners in downtown Church, Boshoff, Retief and Pietermaritz Streets closed despite a strong police presence in the city.
A police source said the force had reacted quickly when they were informed there was a gang of about 15 or 20 people threatening to loot shops owned by foreigners. He was aware of only two incidents.
Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said there were two incidents of looting reported in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday where street vendors were robbed and a cellular phone shop was broken into and cellphones stolen.
eThekwini municipality spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa said on Wednesday that 74 people had been arrested in connection with the xenophobic attacks on charges of murder, public violence, business robbery, theft and possessing firearms.
Durban Mayor James Nxumalo appealed to people not to “take the law into their own hands” but to “report these criminals who are tarnishing the image of our beautiful city to police so that the perpetrators can be brought to book.”
Mchunu again called on community leaders to help restore peace and reintegrate the displaced people into communities.
* The municipality has warned that Thursday’s march from Curries Fountain would be monitored by the police and urged people not to wear political paraphernalia as it was a “peace march for all Africans”.
* President Jacob Zuma will make a statement in the National Assembly on Friday at 2pm on the xenophobic violence, shortly before he is set to answer outstanding questions from last year’s chaotic August 21 sitting.
The Mercury