Xenophobic South Africans Attack Zimbabweans

Violence spreads as South Africans turn on their neighbours

GET OUT OR BE DRIVEN OUT. It was this message, delivered by a group of some 200 residents to 'foreigners' (mostly Zimbabweans) that sparked a few isolated incidents late Sunday night in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra.

A few days later, against a backdrop of violent mobs facing off against each other and the armed contingents of the South African Police, four people had died, and dozens had been injured, while scores of Zimbabwean and South Africans alike, fled to nearby police stations to escape the growing tyranny against them. Recent estimates put the number seeking security in police shelters at about 1000.

The brushfire violence spread so rapidly and apparently randomly, that some of the local inhabitants in Alexandra began to identify their nationalities by painting messages across the fronts of their shacks, or standing at their front doors with identifying documents. Groups combed one area of Alexandra (known as Extension 7) house-to-house infuriated by runors that some houses had been given to foreign nationals at the expensive of locals living in nearby shacks.

Rumor mill

The mob decided to take matters into their own hands fired up by the belief that the Zimbabweans were to blame for widespread criminality and the afflictions of unemployment. They were operating to some extent on behalf of local communities that have become crippled by poverty.

Meanwhile, a large group of Zimbabweans armed with sticks mobilised, prepared and ready to face their attackers. Some reports put this mob at about 500 strong.

Violence is spreading

Now that violence has spread to another area, Diepsloot (literally: 'Deep Drain'), and Metro police have indicated the horrifying nature of those attacks: men in several pick-up trucks driving in the night and firing a hail of bullets on Diepsloot residents.

Some South African voices have condemned the attacks, including Blade Nzimande (from South Africa's Communist party) and even Winnie Mandela. Nelson Mandela himself made a rare statement, reminding South Africans of their hard-won freedoms, and cautioning against acts of 'divisiveness'. Other leaders called the xenophobia 'shameful' and 'disgraceful'. South Africa's President (Thabo Mbeki) and President-in-waiting (Jacob Zuma) have remained eerily silent on the issue.

Back to the bad old days

The front pages of newspapers this week have harked back to the bad old days of Apartheid, with headlines like ALEX DOOR-TO-DOOR PURGE, FEAR AND LOATHING IN ALEX and POLITICIANS DITHER AS VIOLENCE SPREADS. Pictures of black faces covered in shining red blood, and policemen captured with guns blazing were eerily remininicent of South Africa's racist past. In a recent television bulletin, a police superintendant warned that if the police were targetted, 'real bullets' would be used to defend themselves.

The local MEC for safety and Security, Firoz Cachalia, has described the incidents as 'not just xenophobia', citing a criminal element that is taking advantage of the hysteria. Other reports suggest a 'third force' has been behind the attacks. The South African Human Rights commission cited the government's lack of response to illegal immigrants, poverty and emergent xenophobia as contributing to these elevated levels of civil strife.

So far 66 people in Alexandra have been arrested for their part in the violence.