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'War zone' toll rises to 22
19/05/2008 18:19 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Crowds of foreigners sought refuge at crowded community centres and police stations in Johannesburg on Monday as the death toll from a wave of xenophobic violence rose to 22.
Mobs roaming through poor townships around South Africa's economic capital have killed and beaten up immigrants over the past week, with Zimbabweans and other Africans reporting purges by armed locals looking for foreigners.
The violence erupted in Alexandra township early last week when two people were killed in an attack, and police said Monday that the number dead had risen to 22 with more than 200 arrested.
"An update has shown 22 have been killed since the start of the violence last week and 217 have been arrested," said police spokesperson Govindsamy Mariemuthoo, adding that some of these were "criminal elements."
On Sunday an immigrant died after being covered with his own blankets and set alight. The gruesome image of the human fireball was captured on the front-page of several South African papers on Monday.
"All these things are the fault of the Zimbabweans. They should just go," said a South African woman in Reiger Park, who identified herself as Noxolo. Her shack was flattened in the rampage.
The violence has displaced thousands of foreigners, who are accused by many South Africans of depriving locals of jobs and committing crime.
"Last night, we had more than 2 000 people," said Mxolisi Koom, a volunteer at the Germiston Civic Centre which is near a squatter camp that was attacked in the East Rand.
In the downtown Cleveland area, where six were reported dead in overnight violence in the early hours of Sunday morning, shops were closed and an eerie calm prevailed on Monday, said police.
Three million from Zimbabwe
Police spokesperson Cheryl Engelbrecht said at least 300 people were sheltering at the local police station, she said, where they were being cared for by the South African Red Cross and local community groups.
The bulk of the immigrants who have flooded South Africa in recent years are from Zimbabwe, with an estimated three million having fled the economic meltdown and political crisis in their homeland.
President Thabo Mbeki and leader of the ruling African National Congress Jacob Zuma have both strongly condemned the attacks.
The Human Rights Commission on Monday accused the government of failing to take the swelling threat of xenophobia seriously.
"There has been poor leaderhsip in this country as far as these issues are concerned," said HRC chief executive Tseliso Thipanyane.
- AFP
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