SA still plagued by xenophobia

2009-05-11 22:06

Johannesburg - A year on from a two-week orgy of xenophobic violence in South Africa that killed 62 people and left thousands homeless, foreigners are still at risk of attack because the root causes have not been addressed, experts said on Monday.

One year ago on May 11 2008, residents of Alexandra north of Johannesburg turned on foreigners in their midst, accusing them of taking jobs and houses and of being involved in crime.

In the two weeks that followed, the violence jumped to other towns and cities nationwide, including Cape Town, but most of the deaths took place in Johannesburg.

Many of the victims were killed in gruesome fashion, beaten or burned to death by rampaging mobs.

In some instances, the attackers took over the homes and belongings of their victims, most of whom came from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.

"Foreigners in South Africa face continued threats of xenophobic violence," the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa - a network of civil society groups working with refugees - said in a statement on Monday.

"Little has been done by authorities to address the root causes of the violence," the consortium found, noting that vigilantism was still common, often under the guise of "fighting crime".

The group cited an attack by a mob in January on a high-rise apartment in Durban housing foreigners as evidence that xenophobia was still prevalent.

In their bid to escape the mob two men jumped to their deaths and a third sustained serious injuries. They were from Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Mozambique.

The consortium blamed a lack of conflict resolution mechanisms for failing to defuse tensions in poor communities and called on newly-elected President Jacob Zuma to prioritize the issue.

- DPA