HUNDREDS OF African refugees based in townships and informal settlements around Cape Town have started to flee the province over fears they will be targeted by racist attacks after the World Cup draws to a close on Sunday.
Dozens of mainly Zimbabwean families could be seen waiting with their possessions on the side of the N1 highway outside the Western Cape capital over the past two days trying to hitch a lift with passing trucks to Johannesburg, where they could catch a bus to Zimbabwe.
Refugees across the province have been claiming over the past few months that South Africans are warning them to leave the country by the end of the Fifa tournament, or else face violence similar to that which erupted across the country in 2008.
In May of that year more than 62 foreign nationals were murdered in violence that mirrored some of the worst days of the township wars between Zulu and Xhosa tribesmen during the transition to democracy that took place in the early 1990s.
In addition to the deaths, the UN said about 100,000 more people were displaced and took refuge in makeshift camps around the country.
The mobs behind the attacks said they wanted foreigners to go home because they were taking their jobs and scarce resources, such as low-cost housing.
According to Never Chiku, a Zimbabwean national who lives in Philippi township on the outskirts of Cape Town, non-nationals are now being told to leave because when the World Cup is over, jobs will be scarcer than ever.
"Everyone is very frightened about the rumours of the xenophobia, and some are leaving because they do not want to be attacked. But others say they will stay and fight because they have no place to go. We are praying that God will keep us safe," he told The Irish Times.
Late last month, the South African army was sent to patrol the streets of Du Noon, an informal settlement near Cape Town that was the epicentre of the attacks that gripped the province two years ago.
The authorities have denied the armoured personnel carriers dispatched were there to ward off xenophobia, instead saying they were being used by police officers who had been transferred to carry out World Cup duties for the duration of the tournament.
However, a series of meetings to educate Du Noon residents about xenophobia are set to begin in the informal settlement today and will run until July 11th, when the World Cup final will take place.
There have been no reports of recent co-ordinated attacks on foreigners in the area.
Last Thursday, police minister Nathi Mthethwa, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Xenophobia, warned that violence against foreign nationals would not be tolerated.
“Government is closely monitoring these xenophobic threats by faceless criminals whose desire is to create anarchy.
“We want to assure society that our police are on the ground to thwart these evil acts,” the minister said.