By Mxolisi Ncube
The African Diaspora Forum has blamed continuing outbreaks of xenophobia on the attitude of South African government officials.
As the most recent outbreak in Soweto on Monday spread to other areas, government officials still denied the xenophobic element of the attacks, blaming them on “criminal elements”.
The ADF said the continued denials would render sterile all government efforts of combating the scourge, whose biggest outbreak killed at least 62 people, displaced thousands of others and destroyed millions of rands worth of property in 2008.
“As long as the government refuses acknowledge that xenophobia is there, they will not be able to deal with it,” ADF chairman, Marc Gbaffou, said in an interview with The Zimbabwean early this week.
“When you look at what is happening in Soweto, you will realise that only foreign-owned shops are being attacked, yet government wants us to believe that this is just general crime.”
As of Sunday, three people had died and more than 100 shops – all foreign-owned, had been looted and vandalised, as the violence spread from its trigger area of Soweto to other areas like Diepsloot and the West Rand, where even ordinary migrants, including Zimbabweans, feared for their lives and began to leave.
The locals vowed that after they have dealt with the foreign businesspersons, they would target those who live in free houses provided by government, and then all other foreigners.
“The government needs to enact laws that specifically deal with xenophobia and prescribe necessary punishment for it. It is also so sad that since the 2008 violence, no-one was been arrested. You end up with the feeling that the SA government does not value migrant life at all,” added Gbaffou.
On its part, the ADF began the process of spearheading community forums that would comprise the police, migrants, locals, community leaders, political parties, trade unions, businessmen, churches and other stakeholders in discussing mapping better ways of minimising the xenophobic attacks, as the early warning systems provided in 2008 had thus far proved sterile.
“These attacks seem to result from boiling anger among locals, who believe that foreigners are the main cause of their poverty and unemployment, but we know that is not true at all,” said Gbaffou, who said his organisation continued to receive calls from some panicking migrants from as far as Cape Town, seeking updated and inquiring about the safety of their own areas.
“We have received more than 500 calls since Thursday night. People do not feel safe at all, but to calm them down, I have had to tell them that police are in control, but I am not that sure anymore because I fear that more could still be coming. We have also alerted other human rights bodies like the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, who have promised to monitor the situation.”
The Soweto violence broke out after a Somali businessman fatally shot a 14-year-old South African boy and injured another 15-year-old on Monday. The two were reportedly part of a mob that tried to rob the Somali’s shop.
On Sunday, police had arrested more than 150 suspects on charges of murder, attempted murder, possession of suspected stolen property, fraud, looting and public violence, but the looting still continued, as police assisted some foreign nationals to leave Soweto. The Zimbabwean
