Durban - Xenophobic violence, which spread to the Durban CBD yesterday, might be “orchestrated attacks” that were being “well planned”.
This was the view of KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas, who said she suspected the attacks were not being carried out by “people who were simply fed up with foreigners”.
“They know which shops to target and there are suggestions that in some areas the groups are driving around in ‘smart’ vehicles. Also people I have spoken to at the camps say they did not know some of the attackers, which suggests that they were not from the same area.”
Institute for Security Studies criminologist Johan Burger agreed that the spread of the attacks to the city centre suggested the violence was not spontaneous.
“The attacks being sustained and spreading into more urbanised areas creates a suspicion that it is being organised.”
Burger said the police needed to deploy a large contingent to the affected areas to curb the violence.
“There have been previous complaints that police have been onlookers and even participated in attacks that took place in Gauteng, but there has been no suggestion of this yet in KZN.
“The police need sufficient numbers to deal with the violence because two officers in a police van will not be able to stop a mob. The public order policing unit could also be called in.”
Meanwhile, at the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster briefing in Cape Town yesterday, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko said the attacks represented a political and ideological problem, with elements of “self-hate” among black South Africans.
He said South Africans did not see Australians and Britons “being chased in the streets” and similar demands being placed.
“What you effectively see is largely Africans against one another in a sense. That’s why I’m saying it represents a particular set of a political problem that also needs to be dealt with by ourselves as South Africans. In a sense what we are witnessing are essentially Afrophobic kind of activities,” said Nhleko.
He said the evidence showed that the attacks were mostly against Congolese, Zimbabweans, Malawians, Somalis and South African nationals.
“In 2008 out of 62 people killed, 21 of those were South Africans on the basis that ‘I’m probably darker than you are and you look more foreign’.”
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula said that lawlessness would not be tolerated.
“The government will not hesitate to enforce the laws of the country and we will continue to act speedily and decisively,” said Mapisa Nqakula.
She said 48 people had been arrested since the weekend.
She added that President Jacob Zuma had assigned the Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, Nhleko and State Security Minister David Mahlobo to work with the KZN provincial government to end the violence.
The briefing also heard that additional law enforcement officers had been mobilised from around the country and deployed to affected areas.
Additional reporting by ANA
The Mercury