SA's xenophobia shame: 'burning man' case shut

Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave was beaten, stabbed and set alight in Ramaphosa informal settlement almost seven years ago.

Yet nobody has been arrested for his gruesome murder and, thousands of kilometres away in Mozambique, his wife still awaits justice.

Nhamuave, who was 35 years old, became known as the "burning man" and photographs of his agonising death brought the horror of South Africa's xenophobic violence to the world.

In all, 62 people were killed in little more than two weeks.

Police closed the case on October 27 2010 after concluding that there were no witnesses and no suspects. A single sheet of paper summarises detective Sipho Ndybane's progress. "Suspects still unknown and no witnesses," he wrote.

Yet when the Sunday Times visited Ramaphosa three weeks ago, we tracked down an eyewitness who pointed out two of the main suspects in the crime.

The woman sees the killers at least once a week. Her recounting of details surrounding Nhamuave's death has remained consistent for nearly seven years, when she first revealed details of the murder.

At the time she was willing to speak to police. "But the police never came here. Now, I don't trust the police here," she said.

This week, we followed Sipho*, one of the men pointed out by the witness, as he sauntered about Ramaphosa, dressed in a black T-shirt, drinking casually from a water bottle. Twice he passed the spot where Nhamuave was killed, never breaking his stride.

On May 18 2008, Sipho was part of a mob intent on chasing foreigners out of the settlement. That afternoon the crowd caught two men carrying blankets and clothing with them.

"He's the one who stabbed him. He stood over him when he was down and stabbed him, like this," said the witness, motioning downward with a two-handed grip.

The mob then wrapped their victim in his own blankets and tried to set him alight. They failed.

Bheki*, another attacker, walked to the traffic circle, where a fire was burning, and returned with a flaming piece of wood, which was placed under the man.

"Then it worked. He was on fire," the witness said.

A doctor at Tambo Memorial Hospital said at the time that Nhamuave would have died as fire scorched his lungs.

'South Africans burnt him alive'

The spot where Nhamuave was killed is now a bustling taxi rank with new paving. Across the road, less than 10m away, Bheki sells knick-knacks to the locals.

"I see them almost every day and I remember what they did to that man. Nobody wants to say anything, but I can never forget," said the witness.

When Nhamuave's three children ask about their father, their mother replies: "South Africans burnt him alive."

The inquest into the Mozambican's death reveal that statements were taken from policemen who only responded months and sometimes years later. The police docket on Nhamuave consists largely of testimony by officers who first noticed a raging fire.

"While we were patrolling the Ramaphosa informal settlement we noticed a man who was burning," wrote Captain Ntombengle Kunene on March 20 2010, nearly two years after the incident.

The postmortem, done on May 27 2008 at the Medico-Legal Laboratory in Germiston, does not reveal a cause of death. Forensic anthropologist Dr Patrick Randolph-Quinney labelled it "pathetic".

"It's a very thin, cursory postmortem," he said.

The University of the Witwatersrand lecturer and researcher has more than 20 years of experience in the recovery, identification and analysis of human skeletal remains and specialises in trauma analysis.

He said the obvious things had been pointed out, such as lacerations to the head, but there had been no proper examination of the rest of the body, which may have revealed a fuller picture of the kind of trauma Nhamuave suffered.

More than 1000km away in Mozambique, Nhamuave's wife, Hortencia Masangwa (below), heard for the first time on Monday that the case had been closed.

"I am hurt because my children don't have a father and I would have liked to see someone take responsibility for orphaning my children," she said.

Her youngest, nine-year-old Viriginia, constantly asks for details about the father she never knew.

Hortencia shows her the only three pictures she has of Nhamuave.

Since her husband's death, the family have stumbled from one crisis to the next.

With her small crop she hardly manages to feed the children.

Late last year, looting rebels complicated matters, forcing the family from their home in the central part of the country. Crops withered and the family went hungry, trying to eke out a living by selling firewood by the side of the road.

"Sometimes I go two weeks without selling the wood and I have no money for something as basic as sugar to make tea. Then I have to tell my children: 'Mama doesn't have money for food.'"

Her children walk 10km to school barefoot and have been given until April to buy exercise books or stay at home.

Hortencia is especially proud of her eldest, Alfabeto, who is now in Grade 12.

"He looks a lot like his father. When I look at him I think of his father, Ernesto. The only memory I have of him are my children."

Henk Strydom, senior prosecutor at Boksburg Magistrate's Court, confirmed that the investigation was closed. Police spokesman Solomon Makgale said the docket was still open.

'Burning man' timeline:

May 18 2008: Ernesto Nhamuave (above) is burnt alive by a mob in Ramaphosa, east of Johannesburg.

May 27 2008: Nhamuave's cousin tracks down his body to the Germiston mortuary. He is identified by a defect on his toe.

May 27 2008: Autopsy performed at Germiston Medico-Legal Laboratory cannot determine cause of death.

June 3 2008: Nhamuave's body arrives home in Mozambique. He is buried the same day.

September 17 2008: Investigating officer Sipho Ndybane files his first and only report on the murder. He writes there are no suspects and no witnesses.

March 20 2010: Final statement is gathered from a police captain who helped to extinguish the fire engulfing Nhamuave.

October 27 2010: The investigation into the murder is officially closed.

*Not their real names

- TimesLive

Charity gives hope in face of xenophobic despair

These are people with lives but they have been put on hold. And, although things are said to have calmed down considerably since xenophobic violence erupted in KwaZulu-Natal three weeks ago, these thousands of foreigners face an uncertain fate. With seven people killed at the height of the violence, they still fear for their lives.

They are housed in four camps in the province – in Chatsworth, Phoenix, Isipingo Beach and Pietermaritzburg – which together accommodate about 5 000 people. The camps are situated on grounds that were not intended for habitation and, as a result, sanitation is a problem.

But, amid the overcrowding, litter and puddles, the spirit of hope remains alive. It is there in the actions of hundreds of volunteers who have made these camps their second home. It is in the eyes of foreigners, who sit patiently at makeshift home affairs desks, repatriation papers in hand, waiting to go home. You find it in the generosity of South Africans from various communities who come by with items or time to donate.

And, not least, it is in the dreams of dozens of inhabitants – legal or illegal in the eyes of the law – who are waiting for news of a lasting peace that will enable them to live a normal life in South Africa.

In this and the next two pages, we look at how the refugee camps have brought out the best in some South Africans and hear from the people on the receiving end about the worst in others.

Two weeks ago, Nicole Palany (22) and her sister arrived at the sports ground in Chatsworth’s Unit 3B, where hundreds of victims and escapees of xenophobic violence are temporarily living, to make a donation.

“We just stuck around a bit to see what was going on and helped serve lunch. After that, we have come day in and day out.”

The camp co-ordinator handed Palany a notebook and asked her to record the donated items streaming into the ground, where the 1 500 to 2 200 displaced foreigners share a few giant white marquees. The numbers fluctuate, with many people going home and others coming in.

A bespectacled Palany duly sits at a table at the entrance, under a banner marked “donations”, enthusiastically chatting to donors about a wide range of topics – from what’s needed to the problems faced by the occupants of the camp.

Nicole Palany is a volunteer at the Chatsworth camp.

Attached to the front of the table are handwritten posters that inform the public about what’s required. Items listed include concentrated juice, soap, baby food, sanitary pads, plastic basins and dishcloths. 

“When we came, things were very disorganised; not everything was documented. But we became more organised as the days went by. Gosh, we have a table – we didn’t even have a table when we started.”

Palany, who is studying for an honours degree in marketing, is from nearby Queensborough. She arrives at the campsite at 8am and leaves “when she has to”, sometimes as late as 11pm.

Her table is inundated, she says, particularly at the weekends and between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays, when more people are free to come and donate. 

“Our community has been absolutely amazing. If you look at the storage tent, you can see that we have everything we need to give them, everything they need. We are short of nothing.”

Still, feeding 1 500 people three meals a day is no joke and several organisations chip in to make this possible. Palany records their details in a meal schedule, in a separate black book.

“We have a great number of people phoning us on a constant basis, saying they need to cook. Sometimes people even rock up here with cooked food, which we then have to send … to where it’s needed.”

It is the plight of the children that has touched Palany the most.

“The kids … man, it really breaks your heart. Lots of babies are getting lost. A kid was lost for four hours and, when we finally located her mum, she was waiting to go on a bus back to Malawi. She didn’t seem to notice that her child was missing. And the baby wasn’t even agitated; she was very relaxed.

“People have worked so hard. They have made a living and homes for themselves, and you get other people destroying that. The kids don’t deserve that. They [now] have to depend on other people for food and toiletries.” 

Lumbi Maruma

Hairdresser from Zimbabwe

It’s obvious that xenophobia refugee Lumbi Maruma’s two children (aged one and nine) are her priority. She doesn’t want to return to Zimbabwe because she feels she can give them a better life in South Africa. 

At the same time, she feels terrible about the problems that living in a refugee camp pose for them.

“I’m not feeling okay. Because of the problems, the big one can’t go to school. It’s not nice here, especially for my smaller child. There are other children here and many of them are sick.”

Her main needs are linked to her children: extra clothing for them, cereal and powdered milk. In fact, every few days Maruma leaves the camp and hurries to the informal settlement that she once called home, gives her toddler a bath under running water in her room, and rushes back to the camp.    

For the moment refugees are safe at the Chatsworth camp but, like Lumbi Maruma from Zimbabwe, they want things to return to normal so they can get on with their lives. (Rajesh Jantilal)

Maruma (29) is a hairdresser and ran a busy hair salon in the informal settlement. She heard rumours that somebody was going to burn down her room because she was staying there, so she fled to the refugee camp and has been living there for the past two weeks.

“People were killing people and I was afraid, so I came here.”

She came to South Africa in 2009 and has no intention of returning to Zimbabwe.

“My sister in Zimbabwe taught me hairdressing, and I came here looking for work. I then started my own salon and it was doing really well … I don’t want to go back.

“Here I can manage to support my children … I just want peace.”

Nur ‘Nic’ Holmes

Medical services overseer, Chatsworth refugee camp

Clad in blue jeans, black boots, a checked shirt and a tricoloured reflector vest, Nur “Nic” Holmes looks the part of an emergency health worker. But he still cuts a conspicuous figure – he is one of a few white volunteers at Chatsworth’s refugee camp. 

“I’m a ‘wit charou’ – what the hell!” he guffaws, when asked why he lives in Chatsworth. “Everyone knows me as the wit charou from Chatsworth.”

A computer technician by profession, Holmes is a qualified critical care assistant who, assisted by his wife Faeeza, runs Voluntary Medical Response Services, a community-based organisation that stabilises injured people at the scene of an incident. Faeeza is a basic life-support paramedic.

Fifteen years ago, when a stampede occurred at the Throb nightclub in Chatsworth, claiming the lives of 13 children, the couple were among first on the scene, providing medical emergency services to the injured. Since then, the police’s “Chatsworth cluster” regularly summons their help in emergencies.

“On Easter Sunday, the police told us to go to Lusaka [an informal settlement in the area]. On arriving there, we found two foreigners lying on the floor, severely beaten up … They had stab wounds on their heads,” Faeeza says. “There were a group of South Africans surrounding them, saying that we should leave them to die and not touch them.

“But we did whatever we could. We waited for an ambulance to take them to the hospital but they both passed away after a few days.”

A couple of days later, when the camp was set up, the Holmeses and their two trainees began to provide medical treatment to arrivals at the camp from their vehicle.

“The next thing we knew they called us in and told us we were running the medical services here,” says Holmes.

A doctor from Chatsworth sponsored a tent and a stock of medical supplies. Holmes and his team have recently been joined by a team from the Islamic Medical Association, also a nongovernmental organisation.

“You have got a crowd here and wherever there’s a crowd, there are problems,” he says. “There are a lot of babies with nappy rash, which has gone out of control. We’re dealing with circumcisions gone septic, diarrhoea, malnutrition, dehydration …”

On average, 300 patients a day are treated at the tent.

“We cope. The community has been incredible. There is help coming in from places like Glenwood, Amanzimtoti and Hillcrest, from Christian and Islamic organisations, from everybody.”

During the interview, a foreigner who’s smiling from ear to ear comes to greet Holmes and his team. “I’m going home. Bye, bye,” he says, cheerfully waving his hands.

“The ones we treated, they must come and say they are leaving. It’s so sweet,” Faeeza says. “We are very sad to see them going.”

Holmes adds: “What has happened is disgusting and disgraceful. You can’t even print how I feel about it.”

Zubair Ryegure

Refugee

I was walking through one of Durban’s refugee camps when Zubair Ryegure, a 30-year-old from Burundi, excitedly approached me, wanting to shake my hand and exchange the Islamic greeting (the salaam) with me.

When I asked him what his primary needs were, he mentioned three: a shelter in which to pray, a bucket which he could use to perform the wudhu (ablution) before prayer and a candle.

“The first thing we must do is ask God to help us because things are very bad. If we are Muslims, then we can’t leave praying for one or two days.” 

Ryegure is from Muyinga province in Burundi, where he was the president of the youth wing of the Front for Democracy in Burundi, which is the main opposition in the East African country.

“The ruling party, the National Council for the Defence of Democracy, Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD/FDD), wanted me to enter their party. I refused, so they put me in prison for three months without a trial.” 

Chatsworth camp resident Zubair Ryegure can’t go home, but his future in South Africa is uncertain. (Fayyaaz Akoob)

When a judge released him, Ryegure was approached by young members of the CNDD/FDD, who told him his life would be at risk if he didn’t leave.

“They said they had a mission to kill me.” 

Ryegure went into hiding for two months, before fleeing to Tanzania in January this year. From there, he went to Mozambique.

“The police in Mozambique took my phone and my clothes and they told me to go.

“I went to a mosque in Maputo and a Muslim man there gave me a ticket to come to South Africa and, when I came here, home affairs gave me a permit first for a month then for six months.”

Ryegure is a qualified topographer.

“I found out that if I’m not a national I can’t work in this field, so I was living with my friend, waiting to see if I could find a job doing motorbike deliveries.”

One night, a few weeks ago, a group of locals entered his friend’s room and cleared it of its contents, including a fridge and a bed.

“They were saying something in isiZulu but I didn’t understand it. I called my friend and he came to fetch me and we came here.”

Returning to Burundi is not an option for him.

“I can’t go back because of the situation there.”

For now, his home is a tent made of thin black fabric that he and some friends have tied to a fence.

“There are a lot of people in the big tents. My Islam doesn’t allow men and women to stay in one place.”

Ryegure has a wife and two children back home. When he speaks about them, he starts to cry. “I ask to be protected only. And for someone to give me a job and a nice place to be safe. Now, I’m not safe.”

Abed Karrim

Humanitarian aid worker, Phoenix and Isipingo Beach camps   

It’s 8am on a Wednesday morning and the atmosphere in Phoenix’s refugee camp is relaxed. Groups of people sit on the ground, chatting. Some are playing soccer with a ball made from clear plastic bags held in shape with some tape.

At the far end of the field, Abed Karrim sits outside an Al-Imdaad Foundation (AIF) tent, chatting to his team. 

Daily, the humanitarian aid relief organisation provides breakfast – 3 000 peanut butter and jam sandwiches – at the camp. After that, the Red Cross serves tea.

The AIF, in partnership with the Verulam Muslim community, provides supper at the Phoenix camp, and lunch to another camp in Isipingo. The organisation also assists with the provision of mattresses and blankets. All this is overseen by Karrim.

Abed Karrim of the Al-Imdaad Foundation assists at the Phoenix and Isipingo camps. (Rajesh Jantilal)

Breakfast at Phoenix is usually served at 8am sharp, but the night before some guards apparently broke into the camp’s provisions tent and stole the tea, sugar and milk. As a result, things are not running according to schedule.

But Karrim is unperturbed. When a Red Cross volunteer pops in to apologise, he simply smiles and responds: “In disaster, everything happens.”

He should know. His role as an AIF disaster response and poverty eradication practitioner has taken him as far afield as Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

When he was a teenager, he and his family were frequently rescued by army boats from 2m-deep floodwater.

“The Klip River flows behind our house in Ladysmith. My family and I were victims of eight to 10 floods in Ladysmith. I stood in lines waiting for help – like blankets and mattresses – from individuals, organisations and government.

“As a victim feeling helpless, it used to give me hope to see how everyone put their hands together to assist fellow human beings.” 

It made sense then that Karrim worked actively in alleviating poverty among the disadvantaged in Ladysmith before joining the AIF seven years ago. 

Still a resident of Ladysmith, he has spent the past three weeks living out of a bag at a B&B in Durban, moving between Phoenix and Isipingo Beach.

“From my experience, this disaster has been huge. It has been 22 days and people are still in the camps.

“Immigration, home affairs and the different embassies need to facilitate faster movement of the people, either back home, because many want to go home, or through reintegrating them here.

“You get this feeling that you need to thank God that you are not in this predicament.

“This morning I saw a father playing with his baby and I asked him if he was hungry. He said, ‘Not me, my baby’.

“We should try as fellow human beings to speedily be of service to victims of the camps.

“Everyone has a lifestyle – we eat at a certain time, do our daily chores at certain times. We need to try to bring that life back to them in a meaningful way so it becomes easier for them.”

Blankets help ease the pain

People from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi all gather on a piece of land the size of a football field, just 20 minutes’ drive east from the centre of Johannesburg. 

Within three days, the empty field in Primrose, Germiston, has turned into a safe haven for foreigners. They are surrounded by barbed wire that also serves as a washing line. 

A few provisional, shaky metal toilets have been put up on the refugee camp’s perimeter.

To walk in here is a mission. The green tents that are temporarily going to be their homes are squeezed tightly together. 

Two human snakes made up of more than 600 people slowly curl towards their goal. The lines are divided: men in one and women and children in the other.

The queues are hardly moving. People have been waiting for hours — their legs tell them to sit down, but they need to stay in line.

Finally, after hours in the blazing sun, Melody Chipisa, a woman from Mozambique carrying her baby on her back, makes it to the front of the queue. She is now close to her goal.

“Where is your tag; how many people are in your family?” she is asked. She makes her way towards the minivan. It is packed with blankets from the floor to the roof. One blanket per person in a family. 

“We handed out about 450 blankets today, but it’s not finished and it’s not enough for everybody, unfortunately,” says the Red Cross’s Simon Ngwenya.

The blankets are the only protection the refugees will have against the coming winter. 

They don’t know how many days, weeks or months the Primrose field is going to be their home.

Even though many of the displaced people have not been directly targeted by the xenophobic violence, they would rather live in the refugee camp than spend any more sleepless nights fearing the mob of raging people who hate them.

A gospel song, drums and maracas are heard around the camp. The refugees are treated to a pop-up church. Reverend Mosa Sono gets them to gather around him. Slowly he starts to preach; the Bible in his hand is thick and slightly worn out. 

“In the eyes of God we are all the same. We are all equal; we all have the same rights,” he roars. The crowd simultaneously responds “Yes!” over and over again.

The children in the crowd stay close to their parents, the smallest ones carried on their mothers’ backs and the bigger ones sitting on the ground with their arms wrapped around their legs. 

Some of the children have toys. A young boy is carrying a small blue car, a shining Mini Cooper. It looks brand new, as if it has never touched the dirty ground.

Another child, a girl, is hugging a big, fluffy, threadbare soft-toy tiger. It has clearly been loved and hugged tightly in the past. 

Her name is Tina and she is three years old. Today she is matching her tiger with a striped shirt. It is a new garment she has just received from the church.

The camp is crowded with children, but you don’t see too many playing. Most sit quietly with their parents, just listening to their conversations. 

— Fredrik Lerneryd & Gustav Butlex - M&G

Foreigners employ safety measures

Cape Town - “One: Do not answer your phone while using public transport as they might pick up from your accent that you are not from South Africa. If that happens, they might harm you.

“Two: Do not wear your traditional garments. Wear what the local South African black man and woman is wearing because if they see your dress, they might harm you.

“Three: Pack up all your stock and keep it somewhere safe until things calm down. If they see your shop in operation, they might harm you.”

Those are some of the instructions Rwandan refugees and asylum seekers living in Cape Town are obeying amid fears that xenophobic attacks, which were triggered in other provinces, might spread to the Western Cape.

Callixte Kavuro, chairman of the Rwandan platform for Dialogue, Truth and Justice (RDTJ), on Monday said about 1 500 refugees and asylum seekers would “lay low” for the next few weeks out of fear for their lives.

“We are taking our own preventative measures - the law cannot protect us. We have adopted those rules to keep us safe,” Kavuro said.

Congolese Community of the Western Cape spokesman Leonard Mulunda lamented that the memory of the 2008 attacks, when about 60 foreign nationals were killed across the country, still haunted many of them.

“From my experience living in South Africa, people tend to blame foreigners for problems of housing, unemployment and of poverty,” Mulunda said.

While Somali Association provincial spokesman Mohamed Osman said there were no fears of xenophobic attacks in the province, its members were always vigilant to avoid potential conflict.

Community Safety MEC Dan Plato said the department would refrain from speculation as to why the brutal attacks on foreigners in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have not occurred in the province.

Carolin Gomulia, communication co-ordinator at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), echoed Plato’s stance and added that a xenophobic outbreak could spark in the province at any moment.

A debate at the IJR’s Cape Town office on Tuesday would interrogate interventions needed to address xenophobia. The panel would include community leaders, government and civil organisations.

- Cape Times

Kill thy neighbour: Alex attack brings home SA's shame

The brutality of South Africans turning on their neighbours was brought home yesterday morning as people stood by while a Mozambican man was stalked, stabbed and killed as he lay in township filth, pleading for his life.

His attackers had followed him down a street, keeping their prey at arm's length, waiting for an opening to land the fatal blow.

They circled him as, on his knees amid rubbish, he pleaded for mercy.

In those moments, Emmanuel Sithole was no longer a man, a neighbour, a human being. The intensity on his attackers' faces showed that he had become a thing to kill - each thrust aimed with ferocity.

Around the macabre scene - where children had played and adults had strolled moments before - some now held their hands to their mouths in horror. Others stood seemingly detached, as if watching a movie.

The attack on Sithole lasted about two minutes.

Alexandra township, next door to Sandton, had just emerged from a night of violent unrest, as had townships around South Africa.

In Soweto on Friday night, metro police rescued two South Africans apprehended by locals as they tried to break into a Pakistani-owned shop. They had already been doused with petrol when they were rescued.

In Arkwright Avenue, Alexandra, Sithole had no saviours. Instead, it took his attackers less than an hour - from the time of his attack to his death - to rob a Mozambican family of a brother, a son, a breadwinner.

Shortly before 8am yesterday morning, Sithole was walking along Second Avenue in Alexandra when he was attacked by one man, then another and then a third, armed with a wrench and knives. Other men, one armed with a spade and another reaching into his pocket, hesitated on the periphery, seemingly ready to join the ambush.

A man in a black leather jacket urged the attackers to stop.

Sithole held up his hands, pleading, trying to fend off the blows, but the monkey wrench struck, dropping him to the ground.

Then came the okapi knife, striking home and opening his chest.

He walked until he could go no further, sitting defeated in a gutter on Arkwright Avenue. One of the knives had pierced his heart. The Sunday Times rushed him to Edenvale Hospital, where he died.

READ MORE: The brutal death of Emmanuel Sithole

Sithole's death brings to seven the number of those who have died since the xenophobic violence broke out on March 30 in Isipingo, south of Durban.

President Jacob Zuma, who had been due to leave yesterday on a week-long state visit to Indonesia, cancelled his trip after criticism of it erupted on social media. The Presidency said Zuma had cancelled the trip to "attend to matters at home relating to the attacks on foreign nationals".

He visited a transit camp for displaced foreign nationals in Chatsworth, Durban, and announced plans for him and his cabinet to hold "stakeholder outreach programmes" this week.

Zuma said his government was ready to deploy the army if the situation so demanded.

"We will fix the situation ... it won't take long. We are saying we want to protect lives and end the violence because we are against it. We are doing all that we can to protect lives. That's why we have the police all over the place, if needs we will bring out the army," said Zuma, drawing boos from the crowd.

Condemnation

The Malawian and Mozambican governments have ferried busloads of their citizens away from Durban.

This week fellow African countries strongly condemned the attacks and demanded firm action from the South African government.

Sithole's killing yesterday came a day after international relations minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, during a meeting with African ambassadors, assured them that all necessary measures had been put in place to avoid further loss of life.

The other six killings took place around Durban and claimed the lives of three South Africans and three foreigners.

Police have made arrests in only the South African killings; no arrest has been made in connection with the deaths of the foreigners.

South Africa's image has taken a hit, with other African countries either calling for a boycott of South African companies on the continent or the expulsion of South Africans working in those countries.

Speaking at Zimbabwe's 35th independence celebration event in Harare yesterday, President Robert Mugabe described the xenophobic attacks as "horrible". Mugabe is also the chairman of SADC and the African Union.

"We say, on behalf of SADC and indeed on behalf of the AU that [this] must never happen again. Never happen again in South Africa or any other country," said Mugabe.

It has also been reported that terrorist group Boko Haram has issued a warning against South Africa, but the veracity of the report could not be verified.

Sasol has withdrawn South African employees from its Mozambican plant after receiving threats.

The Lebombo border post between South Africa and Mozambique was reopened on Friday afternoon after it was closed for a short while after trucks with South African registration numbers were stoned.

Yesterday, a group of displaced foreigners boarded buses in Durban to return to their home countries. Two buses bound for Malawi left Isipingo yesterday.

Henry Mwambimba, 29, from Lilongwe, Malawi, vowed never to return to South Africa.

"After six years in South Africa I had hoped to return home a better man. But this is the only thing I have," Mwambimba said, pointing to a bag with clothes.

"I was never beaten up but I witnessed the violence. It destroyed my chicken tikka business."

Officials from the Department of Home Affairs had their hands full as the two buses organised could not accommodate all of the Malawians who wished to return home. A group of Mozambican citizens left on Friday.

This week, the violence against foreign nationals began an insidious spread across South Africa.

Eastern Cape police thwarted an arson attack in Cala, where a Zimbabwean came under attack after he allegedly killed his South African girlfriend.

Violence also broke out in Jeppe, Johannesburg.

Inciting Violence

Amid it all, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini - who is accused of inciting the xenophobic violence - finally buckled under pressure to break his silence since his utterances two weeks ago to the effect that foreign nationals should be expelled from South Africa.

But when he addresses his imbizo today, the Zulu monarch will not be apologising. Instead, the king is expected to condemn the violence and call for calm.

But King Goodwill, who has spurned the South African Human Rights Commission, has been feeling the pressure. On Wednesday morning, he checked in to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital for an unscheduled appointment, complaining of chest pains. He left a few hours later.

On Monday, he met government ministers Malusi Gigaba of home affairs, David Mahlobo of state security and Nathi Nhleko of police. The three ministers conveyed a message from the ANC and Zuma, asking him to either apologise or publicly denounce the violence.

At the meeting, Gigaba apologised to the king and "clarified" his earlier comments condemning irresponsible leaders for inciting violence, saying they were not directed at him.

But the king turned down the suggestion to lead an anti-xenophobia march in the Durban city centre on Thursday. Apparently he told the ministers of his plan to call an imbizo, which was eventually announced by KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu on Friday.

On the same day that the king met with the ministers, he gave an audience to Phumlani Mfeka, leader of the divisive and abusive anti-Indian grouping Mazibuye Africa Forum.

The meeting, which Mfeka and his colleagues bragged about on social networks, was to convince the king to call the imbizo.

The Human Rights Commission has been trying, without success, to set up a meeting with the king.

An insider said commission chairman Lawrence Mushwana had contacted the Royal Household Trust, which handles the king's affairs - but no response was forthcoming.

"We didn't win [with setting up a meeting]. We made a number of phone calls. They stood us up," said the insider.

The ANC and its government has come in for much criticism for the manner in which the falling out with the king has been handled. Instead of condemning him, the party has chosen to defend him.

Nhleko, his most vocal defender, insisted that the king's comments were misrepresented by the media.

But while there is unhappiness within the ANC, no leader including Zuma has been bold enough to speak out against King Goodwill.

"Surely if the [ANC] leadership was not too preoccupied with the need not to offend the king, they would have told him in no uncertain terms that he is wrong. They would send a person much more senior than Malusi to deliver the message," said an ANC insider.

But the days of the king making reckless public statements could soon be over as the provincial government plans to exercise tight control over his written and spoken speeches.

Thulasizwe Buthelezi, the newly appointed chairman of the Royal Household Trust, said it was looking for a new speechwriter for the king and would ensure that "all communication, written and spoken, will be aligned such that it enhances the king's image".

"We are mindful that the new board comes at a time when the king's image has taken a huge blow due to the wave of xenophobic violence.

"We are starting on the back foot because we need to ensure that the king is a unifying figure. We need to rebuild his image," he said.

"The Zulu monarch cannot be about the buying of Mercedes-Benzes, weddings and a tax gobbler. He should be a centre of the pride and heritage of the Zulu Kingdom, that's what we intend dealing with," he said.

What they said...

March 21: King Goodwill Zwelithini in Pongola: "As I speak, you find [foreigners] unpleasant goods hanging all over our shops, they soil our streets. We cannot even recognise which shop is which ... there are foreigners everywhere.

"We ask foreign nationals to pack their belongings and go back to their countries."

April 10: Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said: "South Africa is not against Africans.

"I'm appealing to all leaders to stop making statements that instigate or condone attacks against foreign nationals. "All our leaders in the country have a responsibility to use words to build and not destroy."

April 10: Police Minister Nathi Nhleko defended the king, saying he was misquoted. He said: "His context was [that] our borders were porous, people were walking in and out without any documentation. If we continue to allow that situation, we'll end up not being able to trace them and that contributes to the escalation of crime."

April 11: King Goodwill said: "I ask political leaders that we should respect each other. Democracy should not make them feel like demigods. Although everyone has a right to comment about [kingship], I will not allow myself to be insulted by people who think because of five years which was given to them at the mercy of voters, they are now demigods who should be praised.

"I wish that politicians who comment on what I said in Pongola should do so with knowledge. They should ask Police Minister Nhleko about what I had said, as I was there on his invitation. A person should not comment just because he is standing in front of microphones and cameras."

- TimesLive

Foreigners on high alert in Pretoria

Pretoria - Foreign nationals in Pretoria were keeping a nervous watch on Wednesday as xenophobic unrest flared in KwaZulu-Natal and shopowners in Johannesburg shuttered their businesses for fear it could spread.

Malawian hairdresser Lincoln Chitembwe, who runs a salon in Sunnyside, on the eastern outskirsts of Pretoria said he had received anonymous messages on Whatsapp warning foreigners to leave the capital.

He showed ANA a message that urged “brothers from Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Mozambique to unite and fight back”.

But Chitembwe said he felt defenceless and was putting his trust in the South African to maintain order in Pretoria.

“I have no other defence, I cannot fight. I know the police will act to protect everyone’s life if we are targeted,” said the father of two.

Ndumiso Mlilo, a Zimbabwean journalist based in Johannesburg, disagreed, saying he believed the South African government could do more to counter the violence.

“We have previously seen the South African government being heavy-handed when dealing with service delivery protesters but they don’t do the same with xenophobic attacks,” said Mlilo.

“These people will loot shops owned by local citizens when they finish foreign shops. I wonder what message is being sent to the world, particularly foreign investors.”

Attacks on foreign nationals and the looting of their shops started in Isipingo outside Durban a week ago and spread to KwaMashu, Umlazi and Chatsworth.

A number of criminal cases have been opened at various police stations in the Umlazi and Chatsworth areas. The cases included public violence, business robberies, murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and malicious damage to property.

In Johannesburg, metro police spokesman Wayne Minnaar said foreign nationals were closing their shops for fear that the attacks would spread.

“What we have observed is that foreign nationals are closing down their stores. We have not received any reports of violence or attacks so far,” he said. but added that metro police were monitoring the situation closely.

Pretoria central police spokeswoman Sergeant Ann Poortman said there had been no reports of xenophobic attacks across the city but police were on alert and ready to act.

“We haven’t been alerted to any incidents. If the situation changes, we will be communicating accordingly,” said Poortman.

“If the attacks happen here, we are to act accordingly and will be closely guided by the authorities.”

The ANC on Wednesday deplored the attacks and extended the party’s condolences to the families of the victims.

Four people have been killed in the past fortnight and hundreds have fled their homes and businesses.

“These unpardonable attacks against them are a shameful assault on our very humanity, “ ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said.

“As South Africans, the far vast majority of whom are deeply rooted in values of humanity, solidarity and brotherhood, we are forced to once again hang our heads in shame in the face of these misguided and misplaced assaults. “

- ANA

Pietermaritzburg, Durban on high alert

Durban - Tensions remained high in the Durban and Pietermaritzburg city centres on Wednesday as many foreign-owned shops closed in fear of further xenophobic attacks.

A police statement on Wednesday said five people had lost their lives in the various attacks around Durban.

The provincial and local government plan to hold a peace march at 10am on Thursday to be led by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu and eThekwini Mayor James Nxumalo.

In Durban dozens of police officers patrolled the city centre and some shops were closed for a second day after looting and assaults, which spread to Phoenix and Verulam on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday there was a tense stand-off between police and a local gang trying to attack foreigners at the corner of Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street (Grey) and Dr Goonam Street (Prince Edward). The locals, who appeared to be largely made up of vagrants, told police a Somalian had pointed a firearm at them from the balcony of his flat.

Police averted a clash by instructing the foreigners to lock themselves in their building and the locals to disperse. The foreigners complied but some locals resisted, prompting the police to use pepper spray to move the crowd. The crowd then gathered a block away, pelting foreigners with stones. Police rushed back and arrested one man.

Kapele Mutachi, for the Congolese Solidarity Campaign, said things remained extremely tense in the city yesterday. Most of the foreigners opted to remain “waiting” in the Mahatma Gandhi Road (Point) vicinity.

“Everyone is outside. Police are everywhere but tensions are high because people have received messages from yesterday saying people are coming to attack. He said foreigners were fed up.

“They are saying that whatever can happen must happen. They are ready to retaliate. We don’t understand why our own brothers want to attack us,” he said.

The Workshop’s flea market was quiet with no stalls operating.

Meanwhile rumours of violent attacks circulated on social media including an allegation that children had been burnt during an attack in Reservoir Hills, which police have since said was untrue.

In Pietermaritzburg foreign and local business owners in downtown Church, Boshoff, Retief and Pietermaritz Streets closed despite a strong police presence in the city.

A police source said the force had reacted quickly when they were informed there was a gang of about 15 or 20 people threatening to loot shops owned by foreigners. He was aware of only two incidents.

Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said there were two incidents of looting reported in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday where street vendors were robbed and a cellular phone shop was broken into and cellphones stolen.

eThekwini municipality spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa said on Wednesday that 74 people had been arrested in connection with the xenophobic attacks on charges of murder, public violence, business robbery, theft and possessing firearms.

Durban Mayor James Nxumalo appealed to people not to “take the law into their own hands” but to “report these criminals who are tarnishing the image of our beautiful city to police so that the perpetrators can be brought to book.”

Mchunu again called on community leaders to help restore peace and reintegrate the displaced people into communities.

* The municipality has warned that Thursday’s march from Curries Fountain would be monitored by the police and urged people not to wear political paraphernalia as it was a “peace march for all Africans”.

* President Jacob Zuma will make a statement in the National Assembly on Friday at 2pm on the xenophobic violence, shortly before he is set to answer outstanding questions from last year’s chaotic August 21 sitting.

- The Mercury

Xenophobia: panic grips Joburg CBD

Johannesburg - The Joburg city centre was on a knife edge for most of Wednesday, with many shopkeepers shutting their stores as fears of renewed xenophobic attacks in Gauteng surfaced.

A brazen text message circulating on social media networks warning foreigners to heed Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s call and “return to your home countries” heightened fears of renewed attacks on foreigners in Joburg.

“There was a rumour that there was some action against foreign nationals organised by some group that wanted foreign nationals attacked. It also emanated from a message circulated on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter,” Gauteng Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane told The Star on Wednesday.

She said the police were investigating the source of the text message, with the aim of arresting its author.

“When we received the calls (of alleged imminent attacks), we made sure the police, including those from the public order and tactical response team, were deployed.”

Nkosi-Malobane dismissed xenophobia as the cause of the closure of stores on Wednesday and said the closures were a result of an operation to clamp down on shopkeepers and vendors selling counterfeit goods, which was part of Gauteng’s crime-fighting strategy, Operation ke Molao (It’s the law).

Police said on Wednesday that an extra 800 officers had been deployed in Durban, where at least five people have died, including a 14-year-old, and more than a 1 000 immigrants have fled their homes.

Many have been beaten and had their businesses looted and vandalised.

State Security spokesman Brian Dube said all the flare-ups were being monitored.

There had been 74 arrests so far for murder, public violence, business robbery, theft, and possession of firearms and ammunition.

A peace march was to be held in Durban on Thursday, led by KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu, and was expected to attract 10 000 people.

Fear and panic also swept through Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday following isolated looting of foreign-owned shops in the CBD and surrounding suburbs.

Police said a group of about 20 South Africans had gone on the rampage, looting shops and intimidating foreign shopowners.

Terrified shopowners, local and foreign, were forced to shut.

Reporters from the Daily News saw about 30 people armed with knobkieries and sticks.

They struck cars gridlocked in traffic with their weapons, screaming to white and Indian motorists to “f*** off” and chanting “Africa is for Africans”.

As darkness descended in Joburg, tension at the Jeppestown hostel rose and began peaking with groups breaking off to riot, rob and attack whenever they got the chance.

Around 4pm, residents milled about on Margaret Mcingana Street in front of the hostel, holding an uneasy stand-off with police officers who had closed off the street to vehicles.

On Hanau Street, a block away, residents tried to rob passing cars and threw stones to threaten away those who got too close.

The tension reached breaking point as night approached, with police remaining at either end of the street as residents massed outside a hostel.

Several rioters tried to chase a passing beer truck, using whistles to communicate, and as the sun set, the crowd gathered around the hostel began breaking off.

Two young men ran towards the taped-off area and the police, saying they had just been robbed at gunpoint. They said they lived near the Kwa Mai-Mai Market, a few blocks from the hostel, and were headed home when hostel dwellers shoved them onto the ground and took their phones.

Media representatives weren’t off limits either. One journalist was groped by a hostel dweller and another had her phone stolen.

PowerFM reporter Tehillah Niselow said the residents were friendly with the media at first, laughing and joking together, before the mood shifted. “The crowd turned on the journalists,” she said.

After this, the break-off groups became more brazen, and shortly after dark, the police, who had been watching the situation escalate, began leaving the scene.

Later, three men were attacked by a group carrying sticks, stones and other weapons when they crossed the bridge over a railway. One was hit on the head with a hammer, and the other, who had tried to hide beneath a van, was found and pummelled with stones. They had been on their way to church.

A street away from the hostel, the looters tried to break into a local spaza shop not too far from where the police were parked, shielded by darkness.

- The Star

Xenophobic violence continues unabated in Durban

Foreigners, locals clash in Joburg

Johannesburg - A group of people clashed with foreign nationals, throwing bricks at them, Johannesburg CBD on Wednesday.

One Somali national was beaten up in the skirmishes that lasted several minutes.

“Come here…we will show you how to get beaten up..” one of the locals shouted at foreign nationals in SeSotho.

A bakkie parked along the street was damaged.

The Somalian eventually managed to flee as Metro police arrived on the scene.

Stores along several busy Johannesburg streets including Jeppe, Bree and Sauer were closed.

Bangladeshi shop owner, Sheikh Syed said he received calls from fellow shop owners that people were planning to loot their stores.

“We decided to close and watch what might unfold. Nothing has happened so far, we’re being careful because people were killed in Soweto, and now it’s happening in Durban,” he said as he stood outside his grocery store on Bree Street earlier on Wednesday.

He said he arrived in South Africa five years ago to seek a better life. There were not enough jobs for everyone in Bangladesh, he said.

“We came in peace. I am sure South Africans would be treated well in my country. We are here to make a living, and not to take away people’s jobs.”

Syed said most foreigners stayed in South Africa for years and didn’t travel home because they did not have permits to live in the country, and as a result fear being arrested by authorities upon trying to re-enter.

“Government needs to tighten the laws. If there’s complaints that we don’t pay tax, then fix the system and make it easy for us to trade and provide jobs,” Syed said.

Metro police officers were visible as they patrolled the streets just before lunchtime on Wednesday.

Security guard Siphiwe Mhlanga of Red Alert security company was stationed along Sauer Street and said shopkeepers had closed shops at around 10am.

“I don’t know about other parts of the city, but there were no attempts to loot shops around here. There’s police patrolling in cars as you can see.”

Xenophobic attacks broke out in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, over a week ago. At least 74 people have been arrested after police launched a clampdown on attacks on foreign nationals and their businesses.

- ANA

Foreigners in Joburg CBD closing shops

Johannesburg - Foreign nationals are closing down their shops in the Johannesburg CBD in fear of possible attacks on Wednesday.

Johannesburg metro police spokesman chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said police were monitoring the situation.

“What we have observed is that foreign nationals are closing down their stores. We have not received any reports of violence or attacks so far,” he said.

Attacks on foreign nationals and the looting of their shops started in Isipingo outside of Durban a week ago and spread to KwaMashu, Umlazi and Chatsworth.

A number of criminal cases have been opened at various police stations in the Umlazi and Chatsworth areas.The cases included public violence, business robberies, murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and malicious damage to property. A total of 48 people had been arrested by Tuesday.

On There was a stand-off between large groups of foreign nationals and locals in central Durban which resembled a war zone on Tuesday. Despite being attacked, having their shops looted and being left stranded, foreign nationals have remained adamant that they would not be forced out of the city of Durban.

- ANA

Violence has Durban on the edge

Durban - The Durban CBD came to a standstill on Tuesday after xenophobic violence spread into the city’s streets.

After news of attacks on foreigners and the looting of foreign-owned shops in one part of the city spread to the Point area, angry residents vowed to fight, refusing to be at the mercy of “useless thugs”.

Nigerians in the Point area vowed that they would protect themselves:

“We have nowhere else to go. We can’t go back; the sea is behind us, so we have to fight back,” said one.

They built barriers out of burning tyres and scattered debris to protect themselves.

Large retail shops like Edgars and Ackermans in Dr Pixley KaSeme (West) Street and fast food restaurants in Mahatma Gandhi (Point) Road closed their doors as the violence threatened to spiral further out of control.

Many of the shop owners and vendors tried to rescue their goods.

The drama, which until on Tuesday had been restricted to eThekwini townships and informal settlements, spread to parts of the city, seen as a stronghold for foreigners.

Pandemonium erupted when news spread that foreign-owned shops were being looted in Joseph Nduli (Russell) Street and that the attackers were advancing through the city.

From Joseph Nduli Street, they proceeded to wreak havoc at The Workshop’s flea market, where many foreigners had stalls.

Police were quick to respond to the looting and dispersed the crowd. The stall owners were forced to close shop.

A manager in one of the buildings in Dr Goonam (Prince Edward) Street, Jerry Samuel, said he witnessed looting of shops there and in Dr Yusuf Dadoo (Grey) and Ingcunce (Albert) streets.

“When the owners pulled the doors down, the looters started grabbing stuff displayed outside. We could only save what was inside,” he said.

Many South African-owned shops were also looted while others quickly shut down.

“Some of the foreigners left their stuff and ran away because they were scared. We could not protect them because the groups were aggressive,” he said.

The Mercury saw locals attacking foreigners who were walking in the streets. Police arrested two men at the forefront of the group.

The 320 West Street building was also not spared.

After hearing of the attacks in the city centre, foreigners in the Point area created a defensive barrier, burning tyres and scattering debris across Mahatma Gandhi Road, bringing the area to a standstill. A large group was armed with bush knives, hammers and cricket bats. Police used stun grenades and water cannon to disperse the crowd.

The SAPS and metro police struggled to maintain order.

An angry group of Nigerians, who spoke to The Mercury at the scene, issued a spine-chilling warning to their “rivals” that they had nowhere else to go and would defend themselves.

Shako Kuminga, who represents the Congolese in Durban, said people received frantic calls from their employees and families telling them of the violence in town.

“Our girlfriends and wives work near The Workshop and 320 (Dr Pixley KaSeme Street). My girlfriend called me saying, ‘Come fetch me, they are hitting us,’” he said. “When we heard that we rallied to protect ourselves.

“I don’t even know where she is right now,” he said.

“They didn’t get here… here it’s the Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Ethopians and Congolese.

“We want to stop them; we want to defend ourselves. We have nowhere else to go. We can’t go back; there is the sea behind us, so we have to fight back. We are waiting for them. Our brothers have already been killed. We have nothing else to lose.”

They were livid about the treatment meted out by locals, saying: “You will never hear of such a thing in Nigeria. Locals will beat you for calling someone a foreigner. We are brothers in our eyes.”

The group said: “It’s easy; government can just open the border gates and let us go if they don’t want us. But they must know that no plane must leave South Africa to come to our countries.”

There were reports of xenophobic attacks and looting in Waterloo and central Verulam on Tuesday. It was not clear whether there were any injuries in the incidents.

Police spokesman Jay Naicker said that in the Verulam CBD, two shops belonging to foreigners were looted by a group of people at about 7pm, during load shedding.

“No one was injured and a 31-year-old suspect was arrested. He will appear in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court soon.”

Situation ‘diabolical and nefarious’

The city said on Tuesday night that it would not allow eThekwini to be turned into a war zone.

“Government has noted with grave concerns and regret that the attacks on foreign nationals and looting of their shops have continued around the province.”

The statement said that it was completely unacceptable for South Africans to treat foreign nationals in such a “diabolical and nefarious manner”.

Mayor James Nxumalo called upon all members of society “to join us in rejecting and condemning xenophobia and all related discrimination”.

Earlier on Tuesday deputy mayor Nomvuso Shabalala spoke at the Khula Business Tour at the Dube TradePort.

“Before we have always said that xenophobia was in the townships. Today we have seem something we have never seen before.

“It has come to the inner city. We don’t believe this thing that people are saying that foreigners have taken their businesses. We believe that there is an element of criminality and jealousy behind this. Durban has received a number of accolades, such as the best place to live, and we are worried that this is tarnishing the image of our city of Durban. The violence must stop – it is not acceptable and it is not humane.”

MEC for Economic Development Mike Mabuyakhulu said the premier had called a meeting at city hall at 2.30pm on Wednesday, when all business stakeholders would meet to discuss solutions to the xenophobic violence.

“He wants to assure the public that the provincial government is providing leadership, this is not the time to panic.”

Police Ministry spokesman Musa Zondi debunked rumours that the army was to be deployed, saying the military was not trained to handle such situations.

KZN EMS spokesman Robert McKenzie said at least six people, all foreigners, were attended to during the attacks on Tuesday. He said three were stabbed and one was burnt. The other two were transported by private ambulances.

Police said 12 people were arrested in Durban on Tuesday for public violence.

- The Mercury

Afrophobia behind KZN attacks: minister

Parliament, Cape Town - The spate of attacks on foreign nationals in KwaZulu-Natal was a symptom of a larger problem of Afrophobia in South African communities, police minister Nathi Nhleko said on Tuesday.

Addresssing journalists in Parliament, along with his colleagues from the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster, Nhleko said those perpetrating the attacks were mostly targeting fellow Africans.

“What you don’t see is you don’t see Australians being chased on the streets, Britons being chased on the streets and similar demands being placed on them that they should be leave the country and so on,” said Nhleko.

“What you effectively see is largely Africans against one another in a sense now. It represents a certain type of political problem that has got to be dealt with by ourselves as South Africans on the one hand.”

The minister said the problem was ideological in nature.

“In a sense, what we are witnessing are actually Afrophobic kind of activities and attacks…and resembling all elements of self-hate for an example among Africans and so forth,” he said.

“The evidence seems to show that mainly the attacks are against the Congolese, the Zimbabweans, the Malawians, the Mozambicans, Ethiopians, the Somalis and South African nationals as well.”

Nhleko cited the 2008 xenophobic attacks which were widespread across the country. Of the 62 people killed, 21 were South Africans. Nhleko said the South Africans were attacked because of their darker skin.

The minister ruled out calling in the army at this stage to help quell the violence.

“The situation necessarily has not come to that point to necessitate army deployment. Government agencies have handled that situation relatively quite well,” said Nhleko.

Nhleko said government together with NGOs were assisting foreign nationals by setting up centres to accommodate them.

Currently, 276 displaced foreigners were being accommodated in Isipingo, 196 in Greenwood Park and the number of foreigners seeking help in Chatsworth fluctuated between 800 and one thousand.

Nhleko and his fellow ministers from the JCPS cluster said government was taking a no-nonsense approach in dealing with perpertrators of anti-foreigner violence.

“We want to assert government’s position that any lawlessness will not be tolerated,” said Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

“Government will not hesitate to enforce the laws of the country and we will continue to act speedily and decisively on any criminal activity in South Africa under any guise.”

Mapisa-Nqakula said at least 48 people had been arrested since the weekend in connection with attacks on foreign nationals.

Additional law enforcement officers were mobilised from around the country and deployed to affected areas to prevent further attacks.

- ANA

Xenophobic clashes rock Durban

Durban - Areas of Durban resembled a war zone late on Tuesday afternoon as violence between locals and foreign nationals boiled over.

Shops in central Durban were closed as a knobkierrie-wielding mob assaulted foreign nationals and looted their shops in Durban.

Metro police rushed around to make sure shops were properly closed as some foreigners fled without closing them properly.

Taxis had their windows smashed as foreign nationals threw rocks and stones from a block of flats on West Street, in central Durban.

Police had their hands full trying to calm down an angry mob of locals who had stones and rocks thrown at them.

There was glass all over the street and police resorted to using teargas in a bid to separate the warring groups.

“We are under attack, people are coming from everywhere. Police are not helping us, maybe they are tired of us,” said foreign shop owner, Richard Condonso.

He said the locals had pushed them into a corner.

“We will retaliate, in full force just to defend ourselves,” said Condonso.

A local, who refused to be named, said the foreign nationals deserved what was happening to them.

“We are tired of them. They are criminals. They do house break-ins. Ever since they came into the country, the crime rate has escalated”.

Police spokesperson, Jay Naicker could not be reached for comment.

- ANA