'I expect them to kill my son'
2008-05-20 08:37
Lauren Thys
Germiston - "They cut up my brother's legs and stabbed him to death.Then they set his hut alight and his little boy burnt to death."
This was the story told by a 45-year-old from Mozambique, who had tears in his eyes as he spoke of the xenophobic attacks which last weekend spread to Dikathole, an informal settlement near Germiston.
He had to leave behind his South African wife and four-year-old son when he fled and hid in a dustbin for two hours.
"They began shooting at about 21:30 (on Saturday night) and set fire to everything. My neighbours came to tell me I had to flee because they were killing foreigners."
The man spoke to Beeld on condition of anonymity.
He was currently sleeping in his employer's garage.
People bussed in
He saw several people being burnt and told how others were stabbed with knives.
"They don't ask questions. They just throw bricks through windows and set people's houses on fire.
"I'm scared. I expect them to kill my son tonight or tomorrow night.
"And I can't go back because they're threatening to kill me."
He didn't think local people were responsible for the violence.
"People came in busses from Ramaphosa (an informal settlement near Boksburg) and carried the shebeens' freezers outside. When they were drunk they began shooting and throwing rocks."
He has been working in South Africa for 18 years and doesn?t feel guilty that foreigners live and work in South Africa.
"The people say we're stealing their work but if they really want to work, they must go out and look for work. The people here see that we foreigners can work hard."
In spite of his fugitive existence - he saw his wife briefly every evening in an open piece of veld - he wouldn't go back to Mozambique.
"I love this country. I know I could lose everything but I pray that I will be able to have a future here.
"I still have my health and my hands so I can still work. If I were in Maputo, I would have to sleep in a graveyard next to someone I didn't know but here it is nice to be able to give my family a future."
- Beeld