Thousands seek refuge in CT
2008-05-26 09:15
Cape Town - More than half of the 18 000 foreigners who had been uprooted since Thursday's xenophobic attacks in the Western Cape were being housed at places of safety and military bases in the province.
Many foreigners found refuge in mosques, churches, community halls and police offices.
The deaths over the weekend of two people could possibly be linked to xenophobia.
The police said a total of 316 people had been arrested since Friday.
Buying bus tickets home
Many foreigners were queuing at Cape Town's station on Sunday to buy bus tickets back to their home countries.
Cape Town's mayor Helen Zille said at a press conference on Sunday that about 9 400 people were being housed at three centres, and at the Youngsfield Military Base.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool announced on Sunday that the regional director of the UN high commission for refugees Arvind Gupta had arrived in Cape Town on Sunday evening to meet refugees at Soetwater.
The Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota made lodging available for 600 people at the Simon's Town Naval Base.
About 470 people were uprooted in Mbekweni.
Seeking refuge
Foreigners in Mitchells Plain found refuge at mosques, the police station and a refuge centre.
The city of Cape Town asked all those who had been uprooted and who were not yet housed at military bases or refuge centres to move to these locations so that the extent of the situation could be determined.
"It is uncertain how long the foreigners will be housed here. It will depend on, among other things, how quickly the department of home affairs can register them," Zille said.
She said that the city wanted people to decide their own futures.
"Some of the people want to return to their countries of origin whereas others want to be reintegrated in the communities from which they fled."
She voiced her concern over a group of foreigners who were being housed in a hall in Summer Greens and said that the tension between the local community and the foreigners needed to be defused before it got out of control.
Zille thanked Capetonians for their "selfless help and kind-heartedness" since the attacks on Thursday night.
Police spokesperson André Traut said that the police were "keeping the current violence situation in mind" in their investigations of the weekend's murders.
After one of the attacks the burnt corpse of a man was found in an open field on Saturday in Harare, Khayelitsha.
The man's face had been burnt beyond recognition.
An 18-year-old man died on Saturday morning after he was shot in Kraaifontein on Friday night.
Traut said that he had wanted to plunder a shop belonging to a South African citizen.
The police were investigating a case of murder.