Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Foreigners 'chased like dogs'

Foreigners forced from informal settlements around the province are still too scared to return to their homes because they fear being attacked again.

"I'm not going back. I don't care if the police are there. I am scared. They've torn down my shop and my brothers who have gone back were threatened again. We will wait - maybe until next week," Abduragman Alikar, a Somali who ran a shop in Khayelitsha, said on Tuesday.

On Sunday and Monday scores of foreigners left a number of informal settlements around the province after being threatened. Some had had their shops looted.

Late on Monday in Nyanga fears of attacks against foreigners were further fuelled when the body of a 33-year-old Malawian, Peter Chavura, was discovered.

He had been murdered and his genitals cut off.

Nyanga police station spokeswoman Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said the murder was not xenophobia-related.

She said Chavura had been drinking with his friends on Sunday at a shebeen in Samora Machel.

That was where his girlfriend last saw him but on Monday a resident told her his body had been discovered in bushes in the area.

Pictures of the scene show his genitals on grass near his body.

In another section of Nyanga late on Monday another Malawian man, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, said he was kicked out his house after locals stoned it, then broke down the front door, before chasing him and his family out.

The Malawian said five of his friends had also been chased out the area. His employer, who did not want to be named for fear of jeopardising him, said the man was now no longer at his home and was staying with friends.

On Tuesday in Nyanga, foreign-owned shops were
either empty or locked up.

Franschhoek police station spokeswoman Marize Papier said all the foreign-owned shops in the area were also closed on Tuesday following a day of looting.

She said 53 foreigners were staying in a church there and would possibly go back home within the next few days.

In Grabouw, resident Rochelle Wegner also said a
number of Somali- and Nigerian-owned shops had
been looted and a number of foreigners had left the area.

Along the N1 on Tuesday near the Huguenot Tunnel, more than 20 Zimbabweans were waiting, trying to get transport out the province.

They had been at the roadside since the weekend
when many had been kicked out of informal settlements.

"It's the xenophobia that's forcing us away. I?m afraid, my friend. We came here on Sunday after they chased us out of Mbekweni (in Paarl).

"The people from there chased us like dogs.

"There's no work or food in Zimbabwe and I provide for my family from here.

"But I must go where it's safe," said a woman, who
wanted to be identified only as "Sarah" because she feared reprisals.

On Monday, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa visited the Western Cape to assess xenophobic attacks.

The minister said criminals were behind the incidents.

- Cape Times

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