Life spared for not being from SA

Three foreigners decided not kill a white Zimbabwean woman they had just raped, assaulted, robbed and kidnapped because she was not South African.

The three men told the woman that they were also from Zimbabwe and would therefore not kill her because she was their "sister".

"We only kill white South Africans," the then 39-year-old Denise Pollard* was told.

At the time of the attack, she had been living in South Africa for six years.

The men, however, are from Mozambique and at the time that they attacked Pollard, one of them - Andries Simango, 25 - had a month earlier robbed and hacked a woman to death in her flat in Haddon in Joburg's southern suburbs. He was also in the country illegally.

On Friday, Simango, who is serving a life sentence and an additional 20 years for the Haddon crime, was, along with Nelson Abdul, 25, and June Immanuel, 34, found guilty of the rape, kidnapping and robbery of Pollard. They each received 15 years for robbery, a life sentence each for the rape and an additional five years each for kidnapping.

On July 7, 2006 the three broke into Pollard's Fourways townhouse, where she was sleeping. She was awoken by her small dog barking when three men rushed into her bedroom.

One held his hand over her mouth while another held a gun against her body. They asked her where the money was and ransacked her drawers. The gang found R200 and a cellphone.

Immanuel slid his hands under Pollard's nightie, found that she was not wearing any underwear.

Pollard begged the men not to rape her, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. She was struck on the face and then Abdul and Immanuel raped her.

During the rapes, Simango held a gun to her head, and her arms were also held down. At some point the men threatened to kill her dog. When the men were finished raping her, they took her to the garage and insisted that she drive them out of the complex, which had security guards.

Abdul is said to have been aggressive and ordered that Pollard be killed. But her life was spared when the men realised that she was from Zimbabwe, and her driving licence proved that.

In their defence, the men said Pollard was a prostitute they had picked up at a nightclub in town, and that she had taken them home for consensual sex in exchange for drugs.

In handing down judgment, magistrate George Andrews said Pollard was an excellent witness who was eloquent and whose evidence was clear despite her ordeal.

He rejected the evidence of the accused and said it was false and improbable.

* Not her real name

- The Star

Xenophobia brewing in Cape Town

Zimbabwean political refugee and teacher Anthony Muteti says that South African residents of Hout Bay's Imizamo Yethu informal settlement are openly warning that foreigners will be driven out for good after next year's Fifa World Cup. (from the M&G)

Muteti was one of scores of foreigners hounded out of Imizamo last weekend after three Malawians were arrested following the alleged rape of a three-year-old child. He and his family were also forced to flee during last year's xenophobic upheavals.

He claimed that police stood by and watched as residents broke down and looted the house the Malawians rented, running off with televisions, stereo sets and other electrical goods.

Muteti says 57 foreign nationals were driven from their homes in the settlement.

His family has taken refuge at the home of people he worked for when he arrived in Hout Bay in 2004.

Muteti says locals now talk in the taxis and buses about how "xenophobia will happen" after 2010 and that foreign nationals are scared to speak their own languages.

"I was totally enraged when I heard a child had been raped," said Muteti. "After the house of the alleged rapists was broken down, I never thought the community would turn on us.

"I left my family at home and when I returned I saw people toyi-toyiing on the street. I am baffled as to how they can say it's not xenophobia."

His 16-year-old daughter, Kudzaishe, who has many friends in Imizamo and attends school in Hout Bay, said 10 men burst into the family home on Saturday and told them to leave by 5pm the next day.

"I just turned to my mother and asked her where we were going to go," she said. "I don't want to go back to Imizamo Yethu. When my father returned home, I just grabbed my school uniform and we fled."

The Hout Bay purge is the latest sign that resentment of foreign nationals is bubbling up in the Cape townships. Two weeks ago foreigners were hounded out of the rural settlement of De Doorns.

Hout Bay's South African National Civic Organisation chairperson, Clifford Nogwavu, however, denied that the purge was xenophobic. "The locals are just fed up with crime, especially when it involves an innocent child. This was not a case of xenophobia. It is not the same as what happened recently in De Doorns, where all foreign nationals were forced from their homes. Only those who lived close to the home [of the child] were forced out," Nogwavu said.

When the Mail & Guardian visited Imizamo this week, tourists ambled up steep slopes to browse through the pavement craft stalls set up in the sprawling seaside settlement.

But it seemed that a tsunami had thundered through the next street. Wood was scattered around the plot formerly occupied by the arrested Malawians and hacked couches and chairs were dispersed among the ruins.

The child who was allegedly raped lived next door with her aunt, who looked after her when her 22-year- old unemployed mother went out to look for work.

"I'm very angry," said the quietly spoken young mother, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of the child. "I was out looking for work in Sea Point when they say it happened. I still don't know how this is going to affect my child."

She said doctors at the hospital gave her daughter antiretroviral drugs to ward off possible infection.

"I just feel so sad. I never thought it would happen in this place, where all the children play in the streets," she said. "I am going to send my child back home to my family in the Eastern Cape where they can keep her safe."

Nogwavu said the foreign nationals were starting to return to Imizamo Yethu and a meeting to resolve the tensions was to be held with their leaders at the police station.

Hout Bay station commissioner Dorothy Xesha denied that police in three vans watched as residents tore down and looted the house rented by the Malawian families.

"There were no vans up there," said Xesha. "It was all over by the time they came to complain to us."

Xesha confirmed that one of the Malawians will be charged with rape, while charges will be brought against two others alleged to have been present.

De Doorns unhappiness continues

More than two weeks after the attacks that drove some 3,000 Zimbabwean migrant workers from their homes in an informal settlement called Stofland, outside De Doorns, a farming town about 140km from Cape Town, South Africa, the mood among the displaced remains grim. (from IRINNews)

"The situation seems like we must go back to Zimbabwe," farm worker Taphiwa Mheva told IRIN. "You don't know with these people - maybe one of these days they think about killing us. We would go now, but we have no money."

Mheva is one of the lucky ones. She is one of 282 Zimbabweans given accommodation on the farm where she works, and plans to return to Zimbabwe after the grape harvesting season ends in April.

Another 1,200 Zimbabweans are living in 190 tents provided by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), pitched on the De Doorns sports field. On weekends that number swells to around 1,600, when spouses and partners working in other areas come to visit. Almost all the displaced are seasonal labourers on the area's wine farms, an industry worth over US$400 million annually.

Every evening hundreds of workers disembark from trucks returning from the farms and wait while security guards check their papers and possessions before entering the safety site. Red Cross volunteers check registration lists, and distribute food around the camp.

"We are trying to avoid a situation where this becomes an overcrowded area, and where people are coming from other areas," said UNHCR Regional Protection Officer Monique Ekoko.

More worrying is that people are coming from as far away as Port Elizabeth, in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, and even straight from Zimbabwe. "People are coming to take advantage of what is happening here - that itself will create a problem. We want to maintain the temporary nature of this site, and to ensure that people move as soon as the conditions are right," Ekoko told IRIN.

She also noted the importance of dealing swiftly and effectively with the situation. "The longer we keep this site here, the chances increase that it might spur other people to take similar actions [xenophobic attacks]. Integration efforts are key, and not only to send a message that people have to live side by side."

According to Martin van Rooyen, a member of the De Doorns Displacement Crisis Committee, 11 December has been set as the starting date for reintegrating displaced people into their original communities.

"We have various processes unfolding to create an enabling environment," Van Rooyen said, citing an interfaith prayer service on 29 November, and ongoing meetings with local government, religious ministers, and the police.

The people living in the camp have given no indication of being willing to leave. "For me there is no option to go back in the community. I've got three kids and a wife - I managed to escape with only a few blankets," Doubt Chinomera, a Zimbabwean labour contractor, told IRIN.

"It's only an option if our security is guaranteed ... because last time when they attacked us the police were there." Chinomera's sentiment was echoed by many, and the perception that the police did nothing to protect them remains vivid.

"The police were just accompanying the South African people. When they were busy destroying the shacks the police were there behind them, looking at them, not arresting them," said farm worker Siyabonga Nkomo.

Superintendent Desmond van der Westhuizen, commander of the De Doorns police station, said the police had been aware that some people in the townships of Stofland and Ekuphumleni had intended some kind of action against the Zimbabweans.

"It was established that the community wanted to stop [Zimbabweans] to go to work the next day, and then they indicated that they would try to dismantle some of the shacks," he told IRIN.

Van der Westhuizen said he had requested support from Worcester, the nearest large town, and Cape Town, as his force was too small to handle the situation, but the distance of those stations from De Doorns meant the additional police officers did not arrive until it was too late.

"At that stage [when the Zimbabweans were blocked from going to work and the looting began] we were trying to do it on our own. It was not obvious whose property was whose. There were 12 officers; police had to use discretion. The crowd was so big - there was chaos, actually - they didn't make arrests earlier because of the manpower shortage."

"There is still resentment on the part of South Africans," committee member Van Rooyen said, referring to allegations that the Zimbabweans worked for less than the minimum wage of R60 ($8) per day, thus "robbing" South Africans of jobs.

"Now, the latest resentment is that you're getting services on this site, when we are told to be patient [and to wait for water, sanitation and electricity] by our same government," Van Rooyen said.

People were also angry about the 24 arrests after the attacks - 12 of those arrested were released for lack of evidence, and a bail hearing has been set for the remaining 12 on 5 December.

The Zimbabweans insist that they are not working for less, a claim strongly supported by Agri Western Cape and the Hex River Valley Table Grape Association, umbrella associations to which all the producers in the region belong.

"With regards to the allegations that workers are paid less than minimum wage, Agri Wes-Cape would like to challenge the organisations and individuals that are making these allegations to provide the Department of Labour with the necessary proof, so that those allegedly responsible can be investigated," the association said in a recent press release.

According to Agri Wes-Cape statistics, during the harvest season nearly 9,000 seasonal workers swell the ranks of 5,337 permanent workers; of the total workforce of some 14,000, just over 1,500 are Zimbabwean.

Agri Wes-Cape also noted an independent study in 2008 by the Labour and Enterprise Policy Research Group at the University of Cape Town, whose findings indicated that most workers in the De Doorns area, including the Zimbabweans, were earning R10 ($1.40) a day above the minimum wage.

Nonetheless, local South Africans persist in their belief that Zimbabweans are taking their jobs. "The farmer comes with a truck, says, 'I need 100 people.' Those Zimbabweans, they go like sheep; so our citizens stay behind and don't have bread in their house," Manghozi, a resident of Stofland, told IRIN.

Manghozi and his friends also complained that the Zimbabweans worked on Sundays and holidays. "They must respect our labour rules," he said. Then we can live together."

We were chased like dogs ...

Anthony Muteti worked tirelessly to improve his community. He started a development forum to find jobs for young people and was instrumental in having the streets cleared of raw sewage. (from TimesLive)

But this week Muteti, his wife, children and about 70 other families who hail from Zimbabwe and Malawi were chased from their homes "like dogs".

The men and women lived in Hout Bay's Imizimo Yethu informal settlement near Cape Town. After three Malawian men were arrested for the rape of a three-year-old girl last Friday, people turned on the families. They were given a few hours to pack their bags and "get lost".

De Doorns simmers

The keeping of 23 De Doorns people in custody has intensified the anger of locals towards Zimbabwean refugees, with some blaming the foreigners for the arrests.

Residents of De Doorns, near Worcester, left the Magistrate's Court fuming after the 23 held on public violence charges were remanded until Monday.

"Our people are in jail, but the Zimbabweans are at work," said one of them.

'Our people are in jail, but the Zimbabweans are at work'

One community leader said yesterday that the locals were so furious they did not want to see the foreigners in Stofland informal settlement.

Another, Mlungisi Funyanwa, who is also deputy chairman of the Community Policing Forum, said while the community was willing to meet the authorities to discuss the crisis, it would be difficult to consider reintegration "while people are in jail".

The 23 appeared in court on Monday. It is expected about 1 500 people will march to the court in a show of support.

De Doorns police station commissioner Desmond van der Westhuizen said community leaders had been granted permission to lead a march.

He said it had been quiet in De Doorns since the court proceedings, but police continued to maintain a visible presence.

Mayor Charles Ntsomi said there would be a meeting today to discuss the plight of the refugees, who were being accommodated in tents on a sports field.

They were driven out of Stofland and their shacks torn down last Tuesday by South Africans who accused them of stealing their jobs.

A number of organisations and including political parties have condemned the violence.

The Women on Farms Project called on the government to launch an immediate investigation into the living and working conditions of the area's farm workers.

The ACDP said unemployment and the influx of refugees needed to be addressed, while Cope said the government had not learnt from last year's xenophobic attacks.

A prayer meeting is to be held on the sports field on Sunday. - Cape Times

Foreigners given ultimatum

Foreign nationals have been given until tonight to move out of two streets in a Cape Town informal settlement - or, warn local residents, their homes will be broken apart.

The ultimatum came about after three Malawians were arrested at the weekend in connection with the rape of a three-year-old girl from the area.

During a street committee meeting last night, one resident from Imizamo Yethu informal settlement, Sonwabo Bazi, said: "This is not xenophobia, it is about the rape of a little girl and we are saying their ethics and morals are not the same as ours, they must therefore leave peacefully because we do not want them here."

This breaking news flash was supplied exclusively to iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister title, the Cape Argus.

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What's next for De Doorns migrants?

Cape Town - Up to 2 700 Zimbabwean asylum seekers have set up a temporary "safety camp" in a rural South African town following attacks on their shacks in a dispute about jobs, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

South African police fired rubber bullets on Tuesday to disperse a mob who attacked shacks belonging to hundreds of migrants following several days of tension.

The attacks in De Doorns, a town 150 km from Cape Town, was reminiscent of 2008 riots in which foreigners were targeted. At least 42 people died and tens of thousands were displaced across South Africa.

"At the moment between 1 300 and 2 700 people, mostly Zimbabwean asylum seekers, have set up an internally displaced persons camp site or safety site, at De Doorns sports ground," Braam Hanekom, co-ordinator of People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), told Reuters.

Hanekom said the asylum seekers were housed in two large tents. There was limited water, poor security and a few portable toilets, he added.

"Today all the displaced asylum seekers refused to go to work for fear of being attacked," Hanekom said.

The attacks flared over competition for seasonal jobs at farms in the area, with local people arguing that Zimbabweans were "stealing jobs" by agreeing to work longer hours for less pay than locals were prepared to do.

The De Doorns police station commander, Superintendent Desmond van der Westhuizen, told Reuters the displaced migrants would probably be held in tents for the next week, as discussions about their future continued with authorities.

"There were no new incidents reported over the last 24 hours," he said. He estimated 3 000 were affected by Tuesday's attacks.

In 2008, a wave of attacks on foreigners in and around Johannesburg led to 15 000 migrants, most of them Zimbabweans, being forced into settlement camps.

The violence also spread to Cape Town, swelling the overall numbers of displaced, and was aimed mainly at the millions of Zimbabweans who fled their homeland in search of work and a better future.

The global economic downturn and the first recession in two decades have caused massive job losses in Africa's largest economy. Unemployment is officially close to a quarter of the country's population of 49 million. - Reuters