The provincial government departments assisting foreigners who fled to safety in the Cape Winelands say a number of them have returned to the areas they left.
On Wednesday provincial government department spokesperson, Daniella Ebenezer said only 140 of the 250 foreigners who were taken to Antoniesvlei Hall in Wellington, remained there. About 110 people who were brought to the hall this week have returned to their communities.
On Sunday night, while the world watched the World Cup final, hundreds of foreigners who have businesses in the Mbekweni informal settlement in Paarl and the New Rest settlement in Wellington were escorted to safety by police when local residents began looting their shops.
The foreigners were taken to Antoniesvlei resort and were housed in a hall. But the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) secretary-general for the Boland area Peboho Majela, said local residents have called for the foreigners to return.
He said a "well attended" community meeting was held on Tuesday night, where residents insisted the foreigners come back to the community.
"Not a single member was doubting whether to bring back the foreigners," he said.
He said that Sanco members in the area were planning to recruit foreigners in these areas on street committees they hoped to form.
"We're trying to convince them to come back and we're coming with a different position. We are going to adopt some of the foreigners on our committees, when we revive the street committees," he said.
Provincial police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk, said on Wednesday that so far the area was reported to have been "quiet" after Sunday night. He said police would maintain "a visible presence" in the affected areas.
Meanwhile, Ebenezer said the eight foreigners who were staying at a church in Hanover Park had returned to the areas from which they fled.
Also, the 25 displaced people staying at a school in Delft remain and 49 are being housed in a church in Franschhoek.
Ebenezer said there were also no more foreigners along the N1 or at the Huguenot tunnel, where they had been the past few weeks, hoping to catch a ride out of the Western Cape.
Civic organisations on Wednesday called on government to recognise that xenophobic attacks were happening in the Western Cape. The plea came a few days after the Cape Argus reported president Jacob Zuma saying that the threats of an outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa were still rumours.
The Social Justice Coalition, Equal Education and the Treatment Action Campaign released a statement criticising government's failure to acknowledge the xenophobic nature of the recent attacks on foreigners.
"In our view, it appears that senior police and the intelligence services have failed to properly brief President Zuma and the cabinet. Many senior officials appear reluctant to use the term "xenophobia" in the hope that this will result in violence subsiding."
The three organisations have been holding workshops in Makhaza in Khayelitsha since last month's attacks on at least three Somali-owned shops in the area.
"We have been engaging with broader civil society networks and forums, but our joint work has been limited to Khayelitsha," they said.
"During this work it was found that fear of attacks after the World Cup was indeed very prevalent (among both locals and immigrants), and that many immigrants were being directly and indirectly threatened and intimidated."
The group said it found that in most cases where foreigners were attacked in Khayelitsha police responded quickly and effectively "under difficult conditions".
Meanwhile the Western Cape Religious Leaders Forum, under the chairmanship of Dr Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, held a special consultative forum to discuss the recent attacks on foreigners. It urged the police to work with local communities in isolating those who were responsible.
On Wednesday provincial government department spokesperson, Daniella Ebenezer said only 140 of the 250 foreigners who were taken to Antoniesvlei Hall in Wellington, remained there. About 110 people who were brought to the hall this week have returned to their communities.
On Sunday night, while the world watched the World Cup final, hundreds of foreigners who have businesses in the Mbekweni informal settlement in Paarl and the New Rest settlement in Wellington were escorted to safety by police when local residents began looting their shops.
The foreigners were taken to Antoniesvlei resort and were housed in a hall. But the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) secretary-general for the Boland area Peboho Majela, said local residents have called for the foreigners to return.
He said a "well attended" community meeting was held on Tuesday night, where residents insisted the foreigners come back to the community.
"Not a single member was doubting whether to bring back the foreigners," he said.
He said that Sanco members in the area were planning to recruit foreigners in these areas on street committees they hoped to form.
"We're trying to convince them to come back and we're coming with a different position. We are going to adopt some of the foreigners on our committees, when we revive the street committees," he said.
Provincial police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk, said on Wednesday that so far the area was reported to have been "quiet" after Sunday night. He said police would maintain "a visible presence" in the affected areas.
Meanwhile, Ebenezer said the eight foreigners who were staying at a church in Hanover Park had returned to the areas from which they fled.
Also, the 25 displaced people staying at a school in Delft remain and 49 are being housed in a church in Franschhoek.
Ebenezer said there were also no more foreigners along the N1 or at the Huguenot tunnel, where they had been the past few weeks, hoping to catch a ride out of the Western Cape.
Civic organisations on Wednesday called on government to recognise that xenophobic attacks were happening in the Western Cape. The plea came a few days after the Cape Argus reported president Jacob Zuma saying that the threats of an outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa were still rumours.
The Social Justice Coalition, Equal Education and the Treatment Action Campaign released a statement criticising government's failure to acknowledge the xenophobic nature of the recent attacks on foreigners.
"In our view, it appears that senior police and the intelligence services have failed to properly brief President Zuma and the cabinet. Many senior officials appear reluctant to use the term "xenophobia" in the hope that this will result in violence subsiding."
The three organisations have been holding workshops in Makhaza in Khayelitsha since last month's attacks on at least three Somali-owned shops in the area.
"We have been engaging with broader civil society networks and forums, but our joint work has been limited to Khayelitsha," they said.
"During this work it was found that fear of attacks after the World Cup was indeed very prevalent (among both locals and immigrants), and that many immigrants were being directly and indirectly threatened and intimidated."
The group said it found that in most cases where foreigners were attacked in Khayelitsha police responded quickly and effectively "under difficult conditions".
Meanwhile the Western Cape Religious Leaders Forum, under the chairmanship of Dr Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, held a special consultative forum to discuss the recent attacks on foreigners. It urged the police to work with local communities in isolating those who were responsible.
- Cape Argus
No comments:
Post a Comment