Durban - As xenophobic attacks continued to spread in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Community Safety and Liaison Willies Mchunu insisted on Wednesday that he wanted foreigners to be reintegrated into the communities they had been chased away from.
The attacks started in Isipingo and Umlazi last week and have now spread to settlements in Reservoir Hills and Chatsworth. Marchers protesting against the attacks were assaulted in Durban’s CBD on Wednesday.
Mchunu held a closed meeting with eThekwini deputy mayor Nomvuzo Shabalala, councillors and other stakeholders at the Isipingo Civic Centre on Wednesday.
He told journalists: “The councillors will convene meetings to warn their communities against these criminal acts. We strongly believe these attacks are being driven by opportunistic criminals who want to rob fellow Africans of their things and livelihood.”
Shabalala and Mchunu were confident all the foreigners in Isipingo, Reservoir Hills and Chatsworth could safely return to live among the locals after community meetings.
The xenophobic attacks spread to Chatsworth on Tuesday night, where hundreds of foreigners were forced to flee their homes.
Many, with just the clothes on their backs, sought refuge at the Chatsworth police station.
The police escorted them to the Westcliff Stadium where other foreigners from informal settlements such as Lusaka and Broker Bush joined them.
“Its been widespread panic, so the numbers have been increasing since last night. Some are having their employers and friends drop them off because they are scared to go home,” said ANC MPL Maggie Govender.
She and Mozambique consul-general Olga Sambo and other local leaders visited the destitute at the stadium.
“Last week I went to Isipingo and found 38 Mozambicans and here in Chatsworth there are 74 adults and four children including a 6-month-old baby,” said Sambo.
She said some of her countrymen and women had asked for assistance to return home and she was busy arranging that.
“It's is most worrying that these attacks seem to be spreading.”
Kilintrensia Namkhali said she was planning to leave for Mozambique as soon as possible with her 2-year-old daughter, Anna Shikone. Namkhali and her common-law husband, Anton Shikone, agreed that it was safer to live in different countries.
“I came home last night to find our house empty; they (looters) took everything and left just a bed. I desperately went knocking at our neighbours’ doors looking for Kilintrensia and Anna,” said Shikone.
He said he was close to tears when he could not find them, but eventually someone told him they were hiding with friends.
Shikone said going back home was not an option as there were no jobs.
A Zimbabwean who refused to give his name said there was no difference between going back home and staying in South Africa under attack.
“I have nothing to go back to and I will probably starve to death there because I will not find any job. It’s better here because there are jobs in the construction industry.”
Adonis Maute, who has two sons with a South African, said his children were too young to understand.
“My sons are 2 and 7 years old. I’ve been speaking to them over the phone just so that they know that I’m okay and I love them, but I don’t know how to explain to them the complexity of these attacks. It’s really hard.”
Nars Gisikho has been in South Africa since 1998. He had never had problems until he saw foreigners being beaten on Tuesday.
“I just left everything and fled. I know we’ve been robbed of all our belongings.”
Shabalala was adamant on Wednesday that the foreigners would be able to reintegrate.
“We will obviously speak to them as well to see if they would like to go back to the communities they were living with.” She said the Department of Home Affairs would help determine who had permits to be in South Africa.
She strongly condemned the implication that King Goodwill Zwelithini’s comments on foreigners had sparked the xenophobic attacks.
“The king never said they should assault and rob innocent people and force mothers and children out of their homes. They (attackers) are motivated by their own criminality and want to use the king’s name to justify their unlawful actions,” she said.
Shabalala and Mchunu expressed concern that attacks were spreading.
“We need South Africans to understand that these assaults and robberies are criminal acts and they should come forward and report the perpetrators because the victims might not be able to identify them,” said Mchunu.
The Mercury