Posted on 05/18/2008 9:42:58 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Mobs rampaged through poor suburbs of Johannesburg in a frenzy of anti-foreigner violence over the weekend, killing at least seven people, injuring dozens and forcing hundreds to seek refuge at police stations.
The attacks capped a week of mounting violence that started in the sprawling township of Alexandra. Angry residents there accused foreigners — many of them Zimbabweans who fled their own country's economic collapse — of taking scarce jobs and housing.
Police and government officials say organized criminals are also taking advantage of the anti-foreigner sentiment by using it as a cover for looting and shooting sprees. President Thabo Mbeki said Sunday that he would set up a panel of experts to investigate.
African National Congress President Jacob Zuma, who is likely to succeed Mbeki next year, condemned the attacks.
"We cannot allow South Africa to be famous for xenophobia," he told a conference in Pretoria. The government is trying in vain to change South Africa's image from the crime capital of the world — it has a murder rate of more than 50 per day — before the 2010 soccer World Cup.
Police said the worst violence erupted after midnight Saturday in a rundown inner city area called Cleveland that is home to many immigrants.
Two of the victims were burned and three others beaten to death. More than 50 were taken to hospitals with gunshot and stab wounds.
"It's spreading like a wildfire and the police and the army can't control it," said Emmerson Zifo, a Zimbabwean teacher.
Johannesburg is South Africa's economic hub and home to hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Many of them are illegal, but many have also been here for more than a decade and possess South African identity documents.
There has been sporadic anti-foreigner violence for months, mainly aimed at stores run by Somalis accused of undercutting local storeowners, but nothing to compare with the current scale.
In another inner city suburb, Hillbrow, on Sunday an Associated Press photographer saw the body of a man who had been shot dead.
Another person was shot dead and two more wounded in similar attacks on Saturday in Tembisa in another part of greater Johannesburg after residents went on a rampage, destroying property that belonged to foreign nationals.
Imtiaz Sooliman of the Gift of the Givers, which has been handing out blankets and food to affected people all week, said his organization was called in to help at a police station in Germiston, outside Johannesburg.
He said violence raged for four hours overnight and by the end 2,000 people were waiting for help.
"My staff said it was like a war zone. There was lots of police and stones being thrown. They said it looked like the police couldn't cope," he said.
Eric Goemaere, the head of Medecins Sans Frontieres in South Africa, said his staff was helping to treat people with bullet wounds and back injuries from being thrown out of windows. The humanitarian group is also known as Doctors Without Borders.
He said Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church, home to hundreds of Zimbabweans, was under siege overnight and that police had told people they should be prepared to defend themselves.
"It's a crisis," he said. He called on the South African government to declare Zimbabweans — there are believed to be up to 3 million in South Africa — as refugees and give them proper protection.
Edgar Gweru, from Zimbabwe, said he was robbed of cash, his passport and DVD player. He managed to escape by climbing onto his roof and hiding there until 2 a.m., but he does not know what happened to the three people sharing his accommodation.
He said the gangs were combing the Cleveland surburb street by street, apartment by apartment.
The the stench of tear gas hung over Cleveland's main street, which was littered with garbage and glass. There were two burned-out cars and many shops had been burned and looted. Police maneuvered an armored vehicle in front of a liquor store.
A crowd of dozens of stick-wielding people, many visibly drunk, sang and danced. One held a crude sign saying "hamba kwerekwere," or "foreigners, get out." One poster said "they (foreigners) steal our jobs and everything that belongs to us."
Michael Khondwane said foreigners were to blame for South Africa's drug and crime scourge.
He said the ransacking of stores run by foreigners would send them "the message that they must go."
About 500 people sought refuge at Cleveland police station — a pattern repeated throughout the city. Red Cross volunteers scrambled to provide them with blankets and food.
Zifo said the vast majority were, like him, Zimbabwean. He said he fled Zimbabwe at the start of this year because he felt he would be victimized for taking part in a teachers' strike last year.
"Even now, I would rather be in Zimbabwe," he said.
“We cannot allow South Africa to be famous for xenophobia,” he told a conference in Pretoria. The government is trying in vain to change South Africa’s image from the crime capital of the world — it has a murder rate of more than 50 per day — before the 2010 soccer World Cup.
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Well, snap to it Zuma.. The 2010 World Cup,, good luck.
Phoka Liefie Domingo, a Mozambican living in Johannesburg's Diepsloot township shows injuries he says were sustained when attacked during clashes in the township, May 16, 2008. Two people have been killed and more than four dozen others injured since the violence began last Sunday in Alexandra township outside Johannesburg. Most of the attacks have been targeted at Zimbabweans and other immigrants. REUTERS/Masimba Sasa (SOUTH AFRICA)
South African police officers use rubber bullets to disperse crowds in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday, May 18, 2008. Mobs killed at least five people and injured 50 in anti-foreigner violence Sunday that has spread through poor suburbs of Johannesburg, police said. Foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, were targeted, police spokeswoman Cheryl Engelbrecht said. More than 300 had sought refuge at the local police station, she said. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Protester sing and dance as a they call for the expulsion of immigrants in Johannesburg, Sunday May 18, 2008. Mobs went on the rampage in a frenzy of anti-foreigner hatred throughout poor suburbs with at least seven people reported dead. Dozens were injured and hundreds sought refuge at police stations. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
The only way they could clean up crime in two years would be to persecute the criminal classes like the Nazis persecuted the Jews, sending out death squads to take out the trash on the mere basis of innuendo, hearsay and supposition. Of course, that would probably be worse for SA’s public image, so it’s probably not that brilliant an idea...
Thank you Jimmeh and Saint Mario!!!
South Africa is SOOOOOO much better off now - under “home rule”......than while under the leadership of those nasty blue eyed white devils.....
South Africa at one time was a beautiful country. Now, thanks to socialist/Marxist liberals, it has gone down the toilet a true testament to socialist ideals. Stand by South Africa, America is not far behind!!
Blacks in the USA should thank God every day that they are Americans and not Africans. It was through the suffering of their forefathers that they are living an infinitely better life than they would have in the hell holes on that dysfunctional continent. But mostly we hear complaints...
I believe Zulus and White South Africans need to take over.
Invade Zim and knock out the fools that are leading Africa into decline. How about a new south African Empire to bring order to the southern half of the continent? We need an African Napoleon, white or Black or half and half, a leader to let this section of the earth prosper.
I’m surprised that there are still many Whites in South African Police Force. I thought they were purged out of their ranks due to Affirmative Action.
Bttt
South African police fired on people with rubber bullets to try and end the violence.
The latest wave of anti-foreigner attacks has caused growing concern in the "rainbow nation", where some of the country's poor are worse off than they were before the transition to majority rule.
The latest wave of anti-foreigner attacks has caused growing concern in the "rainbow nation", where some of the country's poor are worse off than they were before the transition to majority rule.
Was Cape Town safe compared to Jo’Burg?
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to prevent armed thugs from attacking foreigners and looting their property.
Cape Town is safer than Jo-Burg however precautions shoud be taken ... some areas are to be avoided.
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