A dedicated father has been stoned to death for being a Zimbabwean.
Those who knew him say Sergent Kanyimo was a quiet man whose only passion was his wife and five children back home in Zimbabwe.
The xenophobic attack happened in the early hours of Good Friday in Wallacedene, Kraaifontein, as Sergent left for work in Simon's Town.
Homeowner Maduna Mwahla, 56, says she was shocked to see the bloodied man in her yard.
"It just doesn't make sense. Why would one kill a man simply because he comes from another country?" she asks.
She says she heard a stone hitting her house then peeped through the window and saw Sergent sprawled on her doorstep.
"They hit him with a hammer until he fell down - he stood up but they hit him repeatedly until he could stand no more," she says.
But witnessing the murder is the least of Maduna's worries - she is scared Sergent's spirit will haunt her home and begged his family to conduct a ritual to cleanse it.
"Before they leave, they must say to him: 'Now we are collecting your body and we are taking it back to Zimbabwe'," Maduna says.
"I'm worried that his soul will roam around and cause bad luck."
A 22-year-old witness to the attack says Sergent's death is xenophobic.
"They [the attackers] said they wanted to rid our area of foreigners - and it hurts because I know him personally," she says.
Sergent's brother-in-law Adam Chairi, 22, says the older man hated alcohol and kept to himself.
"All he cared about were his five kids and wife he left in Zimbabwe," says Adam.
Police spokesman Captain Gerhard Niemand asks anyone with information on the attack is urged to call Kraaifontein Police Station on 021 980 5500.- Daily Voice
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
ANC slams members
THE ANC in Gauteng has lashed out at its members and members of the SA National Civics Organisation for stirring up so-called service delivery protests.
ANC provincial secretary David Makhura said the provincial executive committee has visited various areas hit by service delivery protests and found “almost all service delivery protests are driven by a competition over resources”.
“Protests in Gauteng, including the latest in Mamelodi, are taking place in areas where there is a lot of development under way.”
ANC members and members of Sanco contesting to be appointed as community liaison officers during community development projects are fueling community unrests in some parts of the province, Makhura said.
ANC provincial secretary David Makhura said the provincial executive committee has visited various areas hit by service delivery protests and found “almost all service delivery protests are driven by a competition over resources”.
“Protests in Gauteng, including the latest in Mamelodi, are taking place in areas where there is a lot of development under way.”
ANC members and members of Sanco contesting to be appointed as community liaison officers during community development projects are fueling community unrests in some parts of the province, Makhura said.
- Sowetan
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Chilling warning to Nyanga foreigners
A threatening pamphlet has been distributed in Samora Machel in Nyanga, warning foreigners that they will "face the wrath of the community" if they fail to leave the area before Human Rights Day on Sunday.
Nyanga police are investigating the origin of the letter.
The letter was signed "Youth Leaders of Samora".
Police spokeswoman Captain Ntombixolo Sitshitshi said the station saw a copy on Wednesday.
"We are going to verify this information and investigate where it originates from. We will be engaging community leaders and the community policing forums to deal with the matter."
She said police would keep a close eye on the area.
Martin Makasi, the acting secretary of the Nyanga community policing forum, said: "Somewhere in the dark corners of the community these people are gathering and sending out these notes, but we will make sure that nobody is chased out of the area."
Makasi appealed to those who wrote the note to come forward, so that their issues could be addressed.
Braam Hanekom, the chairman of People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty, said Zimbabweans living in the area informed them about the flyer and the organisation informed police.
- Cape Argus
Nyanga police are investigating the origin of the letter.
The letter was signed "Youth Leaders of Samora".
Police spokeswoman Captain Ntombixolo Sitshitshi said the station saw a copy on Wednesday.
"We are going to verify this information and investigate where it originates from. We will be engaging community leaders and the community policing forums to deal with the matter."
She said police would keep a close eye on the area.
Martin Makasi, the acting secretary of the Nyanga community policing forum, said: "Somewhere in the dark corners of the community these people are gathering and sending out these notes, but we will make sure that nobody is chased out of the area."
Makasi appealed to those who wrote the note to come forward, so that their issues could be addressed.
Braam Hanekom, the chairman of People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty, said Zimbabweans living in the area informed them about the flyer and the organisation informed police.
- Cape Argus
Sunday, February 28, 2010
'We are tired of kwerekweres'
Zimbabwean national Eugene Madondo is adamant that ANC and Albert Park ward councillor Vusi Khoza was the "ring leader" of the gang that attacked him at the Ventura Africa block of flats last year.
Madondo, who was the first state witness to testify at the start of the trial last year of Khoza and three others, returned to the Durban Regional Court yesterday to answer more questions from defence advocate Mike Mthembu.
Khoza, together with Patricia Ballantyne, 67, Mzokuthoba Mngonyama, 39, and Sean Thabo Jacobs, 24, have been charged with public violence.
They were allegedly part of the group that assembled unlawfully and entered the block of flats in Yusuf Dadoo (Broad) Street with the intention to assault, harass and instill fear in certain residents in January last year.
Jacobs has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly hitting Madondo with a stick or knobkerrie and forcing him off the fifth floor of the building with the intention to kill him. He has also been charged with damaging property - for allegedly breaking doors and windows at the flat.
All four have pleaded not guilty.
Madondo conceded yesterday, in questioning from Mthembu, that he had not mentioned in his statement to police that he recognised the man who had pointed at him and who had told the group that attacked him, "Here is another one". But he insisted that he did in fact see Khoza - the "ring leader" - clearly.
That information was not in his statement to police because it was taken while he was in hospital recovering from the injuries he had sustained in the attack, Madondo said.
"I was in so much pain," he told the court.
At the time of the incident it was reported that a mob had entered Ventura Africa and forced people to jump from the building.
Zimbabwean refugee Victor Zowa, 24, and Tanzanian national Said Omari, 22, died.
Last year, Madondo told the court that a group of men and women, singing and chanting anti-foreigner slogans, and armed with knobkerries, knives and sticks, had entered the block of flats.
He said the leader of the group, who he identified as Khoza, was saying: "We are tired of kwerekweres (a derogatory term for foreigners). We want to teach them a lesson."
According to Madondo, when Khoza saw him the councillor screamed: "Here is another one", and an elderly woman said: "Hit him".
He said Jacobs attacked him and Khoza instructed the men to throw him out.
Madondo recalled being pushed through the window head first.
He said he grabbed onto a pipe and tried to roll down it, but Jacobs hit the pipe with the knobkerrie and the pipe broke.
Madondo told the court he landed on top of one of the two motionless bodies he saw lying on the pavement outside the flat.
As result of the attack, Madondo spent more than a month in hospital and was treated for back injures, a broken leg and a fractured spine.
Yesterday, Mthembu put it to Madondo that he had made up his evidence about being able to see Khoza clearly, and that this was why the information was not in his statement to police.
Madondo responded: "You are mad if that is what you think."
The magistrate, Fariedha Mohamed, adjourned the case to today because other witnesses were not available yesterday.
- Daily News
Madondo, who was the first state witness to testify at the start of the trial last year of Khoza and three others, returned to the Durban Regional Court yesterday to answer more questions from defence advocate Mike Mthembu.
Khoza, together with Patricia Ballantyne, 67, Mzokuthoba Mngonyama, 39, and Sean Thabo Jacobs, 24, have been charged with public violence.
They were allegedly part of the group that assembled unlawfully and entered the block of flats in Yusuf Dadoo (Broad) Street with the intention to assault, harass and instill fear in certain residents in January last year.
Jacobs has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly hitting Madondo with a stick or knobkerrie and forcing him off the fifth floor of the building with the intention to kill him. He has also been charged with damaging property - for allegedly breaking doors and windows at the flat.
All four have pleaded not guilty.
Madondo conceded yesterday, in questioning from Mthembu, that he had not mentioned in his statement to police that he recognised the man who had pointed at him and who had told the group that attacked him, "Here is another one". But he insisted that he did in fact see Khoza - the "ring leader" - clearly.
That information was not in his statement to police because it was taken while he was in hospital recovering from the injuries he had sustained in the attack, Madondo said.
"I was in so much pain," he told the court.
At the time of the incident it was reported that a mob had entered Ventura Africa and forced people to jump from the building.
Zimbabwean refugee Victor Zowa, 24, and Tanzanian national Said Omari, 22, died.
Last year, Madondo told the court that a group of men and women, singing and chanting anti-foreigner slogans, and armed with knobkerries, knives and sticks, had entered the block of flats.
He said the leader of the group, who he identified as Khoza, was saying: "We are tired of kwerekweres (a derogatory term for foreigners). We want to teach them a lesson."
According to Madondo, when Khoza saw him the councillor screamed: "Here is another one", and an elderly woman said: "Hit him".
He said Jacobs attacked him and Khoza instructed the men to throw him out.
Madondo recalled being pushed through the window head first.
He said he grabbed onto a pipe and tried to roll down it, but Jacobs hit the pipe with the knobkerrie and the pipe broke.
Madondo told the court he landed on top of one of the two motionless bodies he saw lying on the pavement outside the flat.
As result of the attack, Madondo spent more than a month in hospital and was treated for back injures, a broken leg and a fractured spine.
Yesterday, Mthembu put it to Madondo that he had made up his evidence about being able to see Khoza clearly, and that this was why the information was not in his statement to police.
Madondo responded: "You are mad if that is what you think."
The magistrate, Fariedha Mohamed, adjourned the case to today because other witnesses were not available yesterday.
- Daily News
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Cape Zimbabweans scared
Zimbabweans living in a temporary refugee camp in De Doorns stayed away from work yesterday after being frightened by rumours of a protest by locals.
The protest did not happen, but the Zimbabweans - who have been living in makeshift tents on a rugby field since November - said they were taking no chances and would not go to work.
In November, local residents drove scores of Zimbabweans out of their homes as tensions around working conditions on De Doorns farms spilled over.
Zimbabwean farmworkers in the camp said yesterday they had no idea why locals wanted to fight with them.
A 25-year-old married mother of a two-year-old boy said she was too scared to go to work at a nearby farm. At the end of the season, she said, she would return to Zimbabwe with her family.
Wendy Pekeur, secretary general of Sikula Sonke, an organisation representing the interests of farm labourers, said she and other members of the organisation first heard about the planned march while visiting locals in Stofland last weekend.
She said a white bakkie had been seen driving around with a man on the back making announcements with a loudhailer.
He had announced a local ANC meeting, to which residents were told they should bring their identity documents, and that they were to march on the refugee camp yesterday.
"He said they would be demand that the Zimbabweans leave the country," Pekeur said.
She could not identify the man with the loudhailer.
Breede Valley mayor Charles Ntsomi said he was aware of the announcement made in Stofland on Saturday afternoon, but that after investigating could confirm that the only announcement was about an ANC annual meeting to take place the following afternoon.
"I don't know why people are starting rumours," he said, adding that they wanted the Zimbabweans to live normal lives.
De Doorns police were also aware of the rumours, but said no protest march had taken place.
The protest did not happen, but the Zimbabweans - who have been living in makeshift tents on a rugby field since November - said they were taking no chances and would not go to work.
In November, local residents drove scores of Zimbabweans out of their homes as tensions around working conditions on De Doorns farms spilled over.
Zimbabwean farmworkers in the camp said yesterday they had no idea why locals wanted to fight with them.
A 25-year-old married mother of a two-year-old boy said she was too scared to go to work at a nearby farm. At the end of the season, she said, she would return to Zimbabwe with her family.
Wendy Pekeur, secretary general of Sikula Sonke, an organisation representing the interests of farm labourers, said she and other members of the organisation first heard about the planned march while visiting locals in Stofland last weekend.
She said a white bakkie had been seen driving around with a man on the back making announcements with a loudhailer.
He had announced a local ANC meeting, to which residents were told they should bring their identity documents, and that they were to march on the refugee camp yesterday.
"He said they would be demand that the Zimbabweans leave the country," Pekeur said.
She could not identify the man with the loudhailer.
Breede Valley mayor Charles Ntsomi said he was aware of the announcement made in Stofland on Saturday afternoon, but that after investigating could confirm that the only announcement was about an ANC annual meeting to take place the following afternoon.
"I don't know why people are starting rumours," he said, adding that they wanted the Zimbabweans to live normal lives.
De Doorns police were also aware of the rumours, but said no protest march had taken place.
- Cape Argus
Monday, February 8, 2010
Foreigners' shops burned
Violence flared up again at Siyathemba township in Balfour at the weekend where residents turned on foreign shop owners, Mpumalanga police said."They started last night [Sunday] and they burnt the shops of foreigners," said Sergeant Sam Tshabalala.
Tshabala said he would have more information on the protests later in the day.
Last year, President Jacob Zuma visited Balfour following a series of protests at Siyathemba where residents demanded the removal of all Mbombela municipal councillors.
In July, residents took to the streets, burning tyres and barricading roads. About 30 foreign nationals had to stay at the Balfour police station for safety reasons.
- Times Live
Sunday, February 7, 2010
ANC Minister to Zimbabweans "Go home"
South African Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula urged Zimbabwe's three governing parties to resolve political differences holding their coalition government in order to allow for speedy economic recovery necessary to attract back multitudes of Zimbabweans who have fled their home country.
She said: "My appeal to you Zimbabweans, please engage and dialogue in order to resolve your differences. Always remember that South Africa will never be your home, your home is in Zimbabwe, so resolve your problems and go back to your home."
She said: "My appeal to you Zimbabweans, please engage and dialogue in order to resolve your differences. Always remember that South Africa will never be your home, your home is in Zimbabwe, so resolve your problems and go back to your home."
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