Violence in South Africa threatens to spill over borders

The wave of xenophobic violence that has blighted South Africa this week threatened to take hold in neighbouring countries yesterday, where locals were urged to retaliate against South African-owned businesses.

The spread of antiforeigner sentiment came as South Africa’s international relations minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane met senior diplomats from other African countries to outline how the government intended bringing the violence under control.

At least five people, including a 14-year-old boy, have been killed during violent confrontations in KwaZulu-Natal since last Friday, and thousands more are taking shelter in temporary refugee camps established across the country.

“We took the African diplomatic corps into confidence on the practical measures that are being taken by the security agencies to bring to justice those who are responsible for the violence and related criminal acts,” she said after meeting in Pretoria yesterday afternoon.

Ms Nkoana-Mashabane said South African president Jacob Zuma had announced a series of measures aimed at bringing the violence, looting and displacement of individuals and families to an end.

Demon

“We believe we can defeat this demon, and the resolve of the South African government and the support that has been pledged by our sister countries is all that we need to nip this in the bud,” she said.

However, it emerged yesterday that rather than being contained, the xenophobia was spreading to other countries. President of Zimbabwe’s national students’ union Gilbert Mutubuki yesterday called on Zimbabwean youths to retaliate against South Africans in their country. After an anti-xenophobia demonstration in Harare, Mr Mutubuki said it was time the country’s youths attacked South African businesses operating locally.

“Right now we have South African businesses such as Pick n Pay operating freely here, but our brothers are being butchered in South Africa . . . It’s high time we should do the same to all South African businesses here until they stop all this nonsense,” he reportedly said.

There were also reports yesterday of South African vehicles being attacked near the Ressano Garcia border post linking South Africa and Mozambique, which was subsequently closed.

While the violence in South Africa started in Durban, by midweek it had spread to areas outside of the city, and to townships around South Africa’s economic capital, Johannesburg, where it is ongoing.

Peace march

On Thursday local political and religious leaders in Durban organised a large peace march involving 10,000 participants, after clashes between an estimated 2,000 foreigners and locals in the central business district the day before brought it to a standstill.

The march was disrupted, ending in the city centre when police clashed with a mob.

During the early stages of the violence local leaders called for the army to be deployed to hotspots around the country, but the government maintained this was unnecessary. Instead, it has deployed large numbers of police to troubled areas to conduct 24-hour patrols.

Initially people blamed the xenophobic attacks on Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini, who earlier in the month told a community gathering that foreigners should go home as they were responsible for crime.

He claims his remarks were misinterpreted by the media. He has since called for the violence to stop and is holding a tribal meeting of elders on Monday in an effort to settle his subjects, who are behind much of the violence.

Simplistic

Experts say it is too simplistic to blame comments made by the Zulu king for inciting violence, given this is not the first time foreigners have experienced xenophobic attacks. In 2008 more than 60 people died across the country under similar circumstances.

Poverty levels are on the rise in South Africa, with youth unemployment as high as 70 per cent in some areas. In addition, a sense of despair has gripped people because of the government’s inability to tackle social ills such as crime, poor service delivery and unemployment.

Easy targets

Official data suggests about two million foreign nationals are in South Africa. However, other estimates put the number at closer to five million, with many illegal in the country.

Malose Langa, a senior researcher with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, told national broadcaster eNCA yesterday the combination of socials ills and people’s sense of isolation and hopelessness was leading them to lash out at easy targets in their communities.

Foreigners are seen as competition for scarce resources and the perception is they are behind much of the criminality plaguing the townships.