Congolese hit back at Xeno&Homophobe Zulu king

THE Congolese community in South Africa has accused Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini of being irresponsible and fanning the fires of xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals.

Blanchard Kimuena, spokesman for the community, which calls itself the Congolese Freedom and Justice Fighters, was fuming yesterday, saying Zwelithini's attack on them shows that he was not in touch with reality on the ground.

"The King's criticism of the Congolese community is unfair and irresponsible. The King's baseless attack on foreigners shows that the monarch is out of touch with realities on the African continent, a tangible proof that he does not regularly travel to African countries to see the impact of misery, poverty and abuse of power by the so-called friends of South Africa," Kimuena said.

The Congolese were responding to Zwelithini's attack on their recent march to Parliament demanding that Zuma denounce the re-election of President Joseph Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Zulu King used his address before the opening of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature on Monday to express his disappointment with the Congolese nationals' march against Zuma.

In his address, Zwelithini said: "They must understand that President Zuma was elected by the majority of South Africans and they do not have a right to march against him .

"If such behaviour is allowed to continue, I have no doubt that locals might ask themselves many questions, and I hope it will never happen."

Kimuena insisted that their march was not directed at Zuma's administration and the ANC.

"Our main concern is that South Africa, as the continent leader, is setting a bad example by indirectly supporting dictatorial regimes in exchange for economic interests, which include oil, gold and diamonds contracts.

"Hard evidence suggests that the DRC elections were rigged by Joseph Kabila, and yet South Africa kept quiet and swiftly approved its results, which is tantamount to propping a government that lacks legitimacy." - Sowetan

Delivery issues dominate hearings

SERVICE delivery issues took centre stage during public hearings on the Protection of Information Bill in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, yesterday.

Instead of expressing their feelings on the proposed bill, which seeks to make it a criminal offence to reveal classified state information, most people who attended the proceedings talked about how the State was failing them.

The issue of the government's failure to control foreigners living in the country also topped the list. "During apartheid, no one would see a situation where people from outside this country would come and do as they please," said one attendant, amid cheering from about 1,000 people who attended at the International Assembly of God.

The community also raised concerns about the illegal occupation of many RDP houses in the township.

The residents said it was rare for community leaders in the area to hold public meetings with them and they had to use yesterday's opportunity to express their anger.

Tshwane DA leader Solly Msimanga said the bill amounted to a full-scale legislative assault on the freedom of the country and robs South Africans of their basic right to know what their government is up to.

"It offends the very basic constitutional rights of access to information and freedom of expression," he said.

The bill, in its current form, is opposed by every opposition party in Parliament. It is also opposed by Cosatu, Samwu and Sadtu, by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, and the Right to Know Campaign, a collective civil society group representing more than 400 organisations.

Meanwhile, there were mixed reactions among political parties and civic organisations yesterday, during the public hearings of the Protection of Information Bill in Sharpeville in the Vaal.

Chairman of the National Council of Provinces' ad hoc committee on the bill Nosipho Ntwanambi had her hands full trying to bring the house to order. ANC delegates and its tripartite alliance partners Cosatu and SACP boldly told the packed Rhoda Yende Hall that they support the bill.

ANC representative Sello Pitso said: "I welcome the bill, it will help make South Africa a better country. It will not victimise the citizens of this country."

Bheki Ntsele attacked the print media, claiming that it was hiding behind the public interest.

"Every citizen of this country has rights. It is not fair for the newspaper to report about people's health like they did with Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and the report on Kgalema Motlanthe that he fathered a child in Limpopo," Ntsele said.

- Sowetan

Foreigners streaming into WCape

Foreigners are streaming into the Western Cape in their thousands, becoming both the victims and perpetrators of crime, MPs heard on Wednesday.

“An estimated 8 000 a month are flowing into the province,” provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer told Parliament's police portfolio committee.

The committee was being briefed by each of the nine provincial police commissioners on crime statistics, following the release of these in September.

“If you see the influence of foreign nationals in the Western Cape, you will be shocked,” Lamoer told MPs.

He invited them to take a trip with him to the Bellville railway station.

“You will see what it looks like there with foreign nationals – and it's only Somalians we have in that (Bellville) area.”

His power-point presentation to the committee – a copy of which was not immediately available – also referred to Nigerians, Congolese, and Namibians in the province.

Lamoer said home affairs in the Western Cape was processing hundreds of foreigners each week.

“Home affairs gave an indication that at their processing centre, where they (foreigners) apply for asylum, we're talking about 500 to 800 that come per day. The processing is about 800 per week.”

Lamoer referred to a gang of Namibians robbing houses along so-called green belts in Cape Town's southern suburbs.

“There was a group of foreign nationals, Ovambos from Namibia, that we arrested. We arrested them but they were released on bail.”

Foreigners were also on the receiving end when it came to crime.

Police had investigated the rise in business robberies in the province, which started after the 2010 World Cup, and had discovered that only a third of the victims were South African.

Many foreigners had established spaza shops or were operating businesses from containers or from their homes. Many did not bank their takings and slept on the premises.

“”One of the major problems... is the spaza shops, the container shops, and the house shops. Eighty percent of business robberies involve these establishments.

“But only 33 percent of the victims of these robberies are South Africans; the rest are all foreign nationals. We have a serious problem.”

Lamoer also questioned the legality of many of these businesses. He criticised Cape Town authorities for not properly applying city by-laws.

“What we've discovered is that foreign nationals are not supposed to trade unless they have a working permit and a trade permit.”

Lamoer said this was a “major challenge” and one that he was taking up with the department of home affairs.

He also reported that foreigners were arming themselves.

“We arrested – from April 1 to December 31 last year – a total of 72 foreign nationals with 70 illegal firearms. They are arming themselves because they need to protect themselves.”

On illegal drugs, Lamoer said police in the province had, since April 1, 2010, confiscated drugs with a street value of over R12 billion.

“Every single day we confiscate drugs,” he said.

The police, together with their traffic counterparts, were working to block the entrance of drugs into the province.

“We started in January last year, specifically in the Beaufort West area. In the first week, we stopped buses, as well as taxis and courier vans... and in the first week confiscated R50 million worth of drugs from these buses.”

The police had contacted the bus companies and instituted a scheme to tag loaded luggage.

“Some of them listened, but last week, on Friday, we got another bus with khat on board. There was no tag. We arrested the bus drivers and we confiscated the bus....”

The owners of the bus where now giving the police “very good co-operation”.

A minibus that was stopped while being transported on an auto-carrier in the southern Cape was found to be “full of dagga”.

Lamoer said illegal liquor was another big problem.

“We confiscate liquor every week. Over the past year, more than a million litres was confiscated.”

On gang violence in the Western Cape, Lamoer said this was linked to drugs.

“As soon as we put on the pressure and confiscate drugs, the gang violence goes up.”

Lamoer said tik was not the most-used drug.

“Heroin is the one, and it's more addictive than any other drug... It is a major, major problem,” he said.

The provincial police commissioners from the Free State and North West provinces, who preceded Lamoer at the briefing, both also reported an increase in crime related to foreigners. – Sapa

Sleeping foreigners severely beaten

Eight foreigners sleeping in their shack in the Doornkuil informal settlement, south of Joburg, were seriously injured by men who assaulted them using knobkieries, baseball bats and golf clubs.

Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said paramedics went to the informal settlement on Wednesday. They attended to eight foreigners who had suffered serious injuries.

“They told us that they were sleeping when a group of between five and six men stormed into their shack and immediately attacked them,” Mulaudzi said.

The Zimbabweans and Malawians were taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital for treatment.

Mulaudzi said three were treated for minor injuries, while five with serious injuries were kept in hospital.

The victims, who were working for a construction company, told emergency services that the attack was the first of its kind since they came to live in the informal settlement.

Mulaudzi said the victims told them that some of the local residents had, in the past, demanded cash from them when they got their wages. They would demand between R50 and R100 from them.

“We can’t at this stage claim that it was a xenophobic-related attack. We will monitor the situation,” he said.

In another incident, two Bangladeshi shopkeepers died at the weekend after being severely burnt whentheir container shop in Thokoza was torched. A group of men poured petrol into their shop and set it alight.

SA experienced explosive xenophobic attacks in 2008 in which 62 people were killed and more than 1 000 people fled their homes. They had to be placed at various police stations and churches.

The foreigners were accused of stealing jobs and RDP homes meant for locals. - The Star

Refugees still fear for their lives

Nearly three years after the xenophobic violence in South African townships, some foreigners are still living in what was meant to be temporary shelters because they are afraid of going back to their former communities.

Two groups of refugees -- one near the De Deur police station in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, and the other at the Rural Institute for Education and Training (Riet) family guidance centre in Randfontein -- seem to have slipped through the cracks. The Gauteng department of social development said all camps it was responsible for had been closed down.

Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Alphonse Munyaneza said this week that it would help to "reintegrate" them back into communities.

The groups were initially housed at a camp in Akasia, Pretoria, and 10 months later (in 2009) were moved to the shelters in Orange Farm and Randfontein, which were paid for by the UNHCR for two months until the refugees could find alternative accommodation.

Speaking to the Mail & Guardian outside the Riet centre, a large, well-kept building with tight security, Abdul Ahli from Somalia said he feared for his life if he returned to the townships.

"I am a human being. I don't want to die in South Africa. I don't want to be killed by someone who doesn't even know my language," he said.

Ahli owned a spaza shop in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, before the xenophobic attacks broke out. He escaped but said: "Look here, they burnt my leg," pointing to a dark scar on his left foot.

Ahli is one of 61 refugees still living at the centre. Normally, the centre houses abused women and children.

Ivan Kortje, the centre's manager, tried to have them evicted but the group obtained a court order prohibiting him from carrying this out. He said this week that the centre was now overcrowded and he had to pay high water and electricity bills. "I will never help xenophobia victims again," he said. Kortje's attorney, Tashya Giyapersad, said: "They are claiming to be refugees but they are not. They are moving in and out freely and some of them are earning money. These people are not disenfranchised". (From the Mail and Guardian)

South Africa: No safe haven for Somalis

Many thousands of Somalis have fled famine and warfare at home, braving a treacherous journey across the continent to reach South Africa but some feel their new lives in Africa's richest country are little better than the misery they left behind.

"If we wanted to fight we would have stayed in our land. We didn't come here to die we came here to take care of our families," says Qorane Haji, 29, whose shop was looted and burnt down in recent months.

Mr Haji has been living in South Africa for over five years. He owns a shop in Motherwell, a township in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province.

More than 300 shops are owned by Somalis in the area, he says.

Most of the Somali population in South Africa lives in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces.

No-one can save us, we came to South Africa to be safe but we have become targets of bad men who kill us just because we are not from here”

Poverty and unemployment are high in South Africa - many people in the poor communities believe that foreigners are "stealing their jobs".

Somali-owned shops have been looted or burned down as a result.

In 2008, South Africa saw a wave of xenophobic violence which shocked the nation and shook up the world's view of the "rainbow nation".

Some foreigners were necklaced - set alight with petrol doused tyres around their necks - and their shops were burned down.

Mostly Somalis, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans were targeted during the violence which left more than 100,000 foreigners displaced and at least 60 people dead.

The government's response to the crisis was to increase police presence in affected areas and to send its officials to address disgruntled communities.

But after a while the police patrols stopped and with them, the visits by officials.

Those behind the attacks were never brought to justice - after some months it was as though the attacks had never happened.

No brotherly love

More than 32,000 documented Somalis, Some say many more illegally the Second largest group of asylum seekers in South Africa. Many have set up shops in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces.

Fleeing famine and warfare at home

"When they came in 2008 my brother and I were sleeping inside the shop, he was in another room. A group of men came in, shot him and burned the shop down - I was lucky to escape," Mr Haji recalls.

It took him more than six months to rebuild the store then but the attacks have now resumed.

"Xenophobia is back," he says.

A few months ago - some men burned down his shop again. He says the ordeal made him feel "unsafe and unwanted".

His brother Anwar Haji, 28, agrees.

"No-one can save us, we came to South Africa to be safe but are being killed just because we are foreigners," he says.

Many Somalis own spaza shops - makeshift kiosks usually run from private houses or a shack of corrugated iron.

The authorities have dismissed reports of xenophobia, saying the attacks are due to business rivalry.

The Haji brothers are once more rebuilding their shop
This has done little to allay the fears of foreigners, who say they are victimised daily by locals who call them "makwerekwere", a derogatory term used for foreigners.

The Department of Home Affairs, in charge of registering refugees and asylum seekers says there are more than 32,000 documented Somalis living in South Africa.

But some say this is an underestimate because many more have come into the country illegally.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says Somali nationals are the second largest group of asylum seekers in South Africa - after Zimbabweans.

'Unfair competition'
The latest influx of Somalis has sparked fears that relations between Somali and local shop-owners could worsen, says Abdi Habarwa, 45 a spokesperson for the Somali community in the Eastern Cape.

Somalis and other foreigners were the victims of vicious attacks in 2008
But Daluxolo Mpengu, 51, who heads the Nelson Mandela Spaza Forum of South Africa (NMSFSA), a new association established by South African businesses owners in and around Port Elizabeth, insists that foreigners are exploiting their market.

"We have found that some foreigners own more than one shop in the same area which is bad competition for us," Mr Mpengu told the BBC.

He says they don't condone xenophobia, but says foreigners need to abide by certain rules if that want to continue business in the townships or have their shops closed.

NMSFSA says foreigners are not allowed to open a shop within 500 metres of an existing business selling the same wares.

This rule will later extend to local shop owners, the association says.

Many residents, however, don't want the Somalis to be forced to close their shops and are happy with the low prices and wide variety of goods they stock.

Mr Habarwa also owns a shop in Motherwell and hopes the new guidelines will help to ease tensions.

He says he uses some of the money he makes to support his relatives living in the world's largest refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya.

"I am not the only one depending on the money the shops makes. This shop is helping me to give my family in Dadaab a better life," says Mr Habarwa.

He fears they could suffer if the continued attacks mean he has to close down his shop.- BBC

Shop owners threaten foreigners with 'bloodbath'

Shop owners in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, have threatened "civil war" if the government does not stop what they term an "economic stampede" by foreigners.

The shopkeepers plan to march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on November 24 with businessmen from across Tshwane in protest against Somali, Pakistani, Ethiopian and Bangladeshi people operating in the township who, they say, are threatening their livelihoods

Mpane Baloyi, chairman of the Soshanguve Broader Business Forum, which was formed with the sole mandate of driving out the "intruders", said the foreigners were deliberately destroying local businesses by dropping prices, and increasing them again once local shops had closed down.

"Local-owned shops are closing down while foreigners' shops flourish," he said.

"These people have pushed us to the limit and are driving us into poverty in our own country.

"This is a ticking time bomb and there will be a bloodbath if the government continues to ignore our pleas," he said.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Dikatso Thebe would not comment on the matter yesterday, saying it was regarded as xenophobia, which is dealt with at provincial level.

Gauteng police spokesmen lieutenant-colonels Tshisikhawe Ndou and Lungelo Dlamini could not be reached for comment.

- Timeslive