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South Africa violence

Last reviewed: 27-05-2008

ANTI-IMMIGRANTS ATTACKS DISPLACE THOUSANDS


A Zimbabwean man takes refuge at a police station after fleeing anti-foreigner violence in Cape Town. REUTERS/Mark Wessels
A Zimbabwean man takes refuge at a police station after fleeing anti-foreigner violence in Cape Town. REUTERS/Mark Wessels
Xenophobic violence has driven around 30,000 African migrants from their homes in South Africa as mobs accuse foreigners of taking jobs and fuelling crime.

  • Zimbabweans, Somalis and Mozambicans among those targeted
  • Worst violence since apartheid ended 14 years ago
  • Troops brought in as dozens killed

    The unrest began in Johannesburg area townships but spread to other provinces. After two weeks of violence, the authorities said they had the situation under control, but warned that more outbreaks were possible.

    Troops joined police in operations in Johannesburg's shantytowns. President Thabo Mbeki approved army intervention following criticism that the government wasn't doing enough to quell the unrest.

    In a reminder of the dark days of apartheid, the government's National Intelligence Agency has blamed former apartheid security forces for stoking the violence, while protestors marched through Johannesburg carrying placards saying "Xenophobia hurts like apartheid".

    The attacks came amid power shortages and growing disaffection over Mbeki's pro-business policies. Soaring food and fuel prices helped push tensions between poor South Africans and immigrants to a breaking point. The attacks have sent a chill through the business community.

    South Africa had attracted millions of African immigrants with the prospect of work in its booming economy and an immigration and asylum policy that was considered one of the most liberal in the world. That reputation is now in tatters.

    Thousands of African migrants have chosen to return home. Mozambique says more than 10,000 migrants and their families have left South Africa since the violence broke out, and officials in the Portuguese-speaking southern African nation expect the number to swell.

    Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says officials in his Movement for Democratic Change will help arrange transportation for refugees who want to go home to Zimbabwe, which is in a deep economic crisis.

    Some Zimbabweans are willing to go back despite their country's hyperinflation, shortages of food, and an upsurge in political violence since disputed elections almost two months ago.


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