Mobs armed with petrol run amok

2008-05-19 15:40

Johannesburg - Mobs armed with knives, clubs and jugs of petrol were on Monday running amok in Johannesburg townships as xenophopbic attacks escalated.

The mobs targeted mostly Zimbabweans and Mozambicans, who are accused of taking jobs and fuelling the high rate of violent crime.

There are an estimated three million Zimbabweans living in South Africa.

The unrest has killed at least 22 people since last week.

Some of the victims were set ablaze.

Women were raped, shops and homes looted and dozens of shacks burnt to the ground. Scores have been arrested.

Police fired rubber bullets at rioters in communities around Johannesburg and in the central business district.

"This is a war," said Lucas Zimila, a 60-year-old Mozambican man who was attacked by a machete-wielding mob while sleeping in his shack in Tembisa, north of Johannesburg, on Sunday night.

"They screamed at me to get out, that I didn't belong here.

Then they burned everything in my house," said Zimila, who suffered a 25cm gash in his head.

'We want the army here'

The foreign-born residents say that far from being criminals they are more often the victims of crime.

Several told Reuters organised criminals were using the xenophobic violence as cover to rob and loot.

"We want the army here. The police can't protect us," said Beto Inancio, another Mozambican in Tembisa.

Both President Thabo Mbeki and ANC leader Jacob Zuma have called for an end to the violence.

Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela also weighed in, saying he was saddened by rising hatred of foreigners.

His Nelson Mandela Foundation issued a statement deploring the attacks and said it was helping children affected by the violence.

Hundreds of immigrants have taken refuge in police stations, churches and government offices.

"It's getting worse. They keep coming here because this is a safe place," said Simon Ramollo, a community activist who was arranging bedding and meals for about 200 foreigners who sought shelter at a community centre.

Foreigners from poorer African countries have been lured by work in South Africa's mines, farms and homes, and by one of the world's most liberal immigration and refugee policies.

- Reuters