"They'll go back home in coffins"

More than 2 000 Zimbabwean immigrants are under siege again in the volatile farming area of De Doorns in South Africa’s Western Cape about 100 km outside Cape Town. The Zimbabweans are currently accommodated by United Nations and Red Cross at a local sports field after locals drove them out of their homes at the beginning of December last year. (from the Standard)

South Africans from the local townships have publicly warned the traumatised Zimbabweans that if they return to the townships, they would go back to their country in coffins.

The authorities are taking the threats seriously. Zimbabweans are even afraid to go to the shops for fear of being attacked.

While the authorities are trying their best to make foreigners feel welcome, the locals have made it clear they are not wanted.

Zimbabweans in Cape Town top the list of the most hated African immigrants.

In De Doorns the locals also accuse the Zimbabweans of depriving them of income by accepting to work for lower wages.

Vigilante groups in the townships have also warned local girls that if they are seen in the company of foreign men, they would be killed.

“We are going to braai Zimbabweans if we see them anywhere in the townships,” one of the men told a local paper.

Charles Ntsomi, the Mayor of Breede Valley Municipality which administers the farming community of De Doorns says he cannot guarantee the protection of the immigrants if they return to the townships where they stayed before they were attacked in December.

The municipality is under pressure from councillors to remove the immigrants from the sports fields. They say accommodating foreigners costs the local authority R17 000 a month. When I spoke to the Mayor he said he was preparing to re-integrate the foreigners into the community.

“My wish is to see the Zimbabweans return to their homes but we cannot guarantee them protection from attacks,” said Ntsomi.

According to Thembi Ndlovu a Zimbabwean woman who works for a local aid agency the Zimbabwean immigrants made the situation worse themselves when they attacked a resident who order led them to leave.

“I tried to warn them that beating up a local would be a big mistake but they did not listen. Today they are in trouble and living in tents and some have lost their jobs,” said Ndlovu, who comes from Bulawayo. Her organisation has been assisting foreigners displaced by xenophobic violence.

All the Zimbabwean immigrants working on the farms in the Breede Valley are from Mashonaland, Manicaland and Masvingo.

Sarah Chigumbira says South Africans hate them with a passion. “These people don’t even want to see us here. If they had their way they would kill us all,” said Chigumbira, who says she comes from Bindura in Mashonaland Central.

At a meeting to discuss the plight of the foreigners, some councillors objected to the return of the immigrants to the farms. The councillors argued that the foreigners were taking jobs meant for locals and therefore want foreigners to return to their countries.