South Africa police seek calm after xenophobia attacks

SOUTH African police beefed up patrols in a township near Johannesburg on Tuesday after a deadly attack that left Zimbabweans and other foreigners fearful for their lives.

A mob armed with stones, whips and guns attacked foreign-born residents in Alexandra Township on Sunday, killing two people and sending some 40 others to hospital. Several women were raped.

"They took my sister's daughter and raped her," Angela Nyembe, a Mozambican street seller, said as she huddled with an estimated 100 other foreign-born presidents who sought shelter at the Alexandra police station.

She said her family and others had been targeted by South Africans who were jealous of foreigners who worked.

Police said 50 people had been arrested in connection with the violence. They are scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday on charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery and rape.

Authorities tried to reassure the community they had the situation under control.

"We will be intensifying patrols and will be beefing up more man-power, and police will be going throughout Alexandra and ensuring that the situation is stable," Neria Malefetse, a spokeswoman for the Johannesburg police, said.

She residents said they believed the attacks had been triggered by a perception that illegal immigrants were responsible for a spate of robberies in the area.

The incident, the latest in a string of attacks on foreigners, renewed fears that xenophobia was rising in a country long known as one of the most welcoming to immigrants and asylum seekers, especially from Africa.

It prompted a quick response from the ruling African National Congress. "We call on all South Africans to take a firm stand against such violent acts and treat them as hate crimes," it said.

Africans have been flocking to South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, for decades, lured by abundant work in its mines, farms and homes and by one of the world's most liberal immigration and refugee policies.

But a perception it is now open season on this group threatens to fray South Africa's relations within Africa and handicap its buoyant economy, which is straining under rising inflation, a skills shortage and a devastating power crisis.


[Reuters/Zimbabwe Guardian]