1 dead, 2 critical in fresh attacks
2008-05-20 11:16
Johannesburg - One person died and two were critically injured in fresh xenophobic attacks in the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Boksburg on Tuesday, the Ekurhuleni metro police said.
Spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the violence began on Monday night when foreigners were kicked out of their shacks and attacked.
The shacks were then set alight.
"Hundreds of foreigners are now housed at the local community centre. The number is rapidly escalating and we might have to look for another shelter."
They have been provided with food, blankets, healthcare and security.
Dlamini said another area hit by attacks was the Gugulethu Everest informal settlement in Springs.
"People were assaulted there - yet it was not as bad as the other areas. They ran away to the Springs police station."
No case open
Police were now monitoring the situation in both areas.
Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal police say xenophobia is not an issue in KZN.
Superintendent Vincent Mdunge was on Tuesday responding to reports in the Mercury newspaper that a group of Mozambican nationals were assaulted at the weekend in what they described as a xenophobic attack.
"There has been no official case of any xenophobic attacks anywhere in KZN," Mdunge told Sapa.
The newspaper reported that the Mozambican group were at a home in Cato Manor on Saturday night when the incident took place.
"They came in with knives and called us Amakwerekwere (foreigners) and told us we must go back to Mozambique," alleged victim Pedro Langu said.
"They started hitting us and one of them punched me in the mouth. They also took a DVD player, television and cellphone," he told the newspaper.
Cato Manor police Captain Robert Mbambo told the Mercury that more than 10 foreigners had arrived at the Cato Manor police station on Sunday.
"They said they had been attacked by South Africans. I told them they must open a case so we can deal with the matter. But then I had to leave the station because it was the end of my shift," said Mbambo. "I do not know if they opened any case."
Repeated attempts by Sapa to contact the community's ward councillor Bhekisisa Richard Mngadi and Captain Mbambo were unsuccessful.
- SAPA