SUSPECTED fresh xenophobic attacks in South Africa have
resurfaced in some parts of Limpopo province and Durban in KwaZulu Natal,
leaving three people dead and several houses burnt to ashes.
The Durban attacks come barely a day after the South
African government launched a national action plan to combat racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and ethnic intolerance in the neighbouring country.
The attacks allegedly targeted at foreign shop owners began
on Sunday night at Kenville residential area in northern Durban.
Residents woke up to screams and chants as a mob of people
walked through the area overturning refuse bins, cutting down tree branches,
burning tyres, looting shops and stoning cars and homes.
In a telephone interview with The Chronicle yesterday,
South African police spokesperson for KwaZulu Natal province, Colonel Thulani
Zwane, confirmed the latest development, saying two protesters were shot dead
after one of the affected foreign shop owners opened fire during the
skirmishes.
“On Sunday shortly after 11PM, a group of more than 100
people in Kenville area outside of Durban went on a rampage between Sea Cow
Lake and Inanda roads during which they blocked traffic using rubble from burnt
tyres. They stoned and damaged passing vehicles, stormed tuck shops and looted
them prompting one of the shop owners, a foreign national, to open fire,
instantly killing a 22-year-old man. Two others were wounded and one of them
later died in hospital,” said Col Zwane.
He said one of the female protesters died after falling off
a roof of a shop, which was being looted.
Col Zwane said two suspects aged 22 and 28 years have been
arrested for public violence and appeared at the Durban magistrates’ court
yesterday.
“We have opened a case of public violence, two counts of
murder, one count of attempted murder as well as an inquest into the death of
the woman who fell from the rooftop of a shop at China Mall,” said Col Zwane.
He said although calm has returned to the affected areas,
they have maintained police presence.
“The situation today (yesterday) is not as tense as it was
between Sunday and Monday and our police officers are still patrolling the area
and monitoring the situation,” Col Zwane said.
A video is also circulating on social media showing
foreigners being attacked and one man is heard speaking in Zulu, saying
foreigners are working and the locals are not working.
On Monday, South Africa launched a national action plan to
combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and ethnic intolerance.
It was launched by that country’s Justice and
Constitutional Development Deputy Minister John Jeffery at the St George Hotel
in Irene during an event attended by civil society organisations and government
officials.
The document was approved by Cabinet last month and will be
revised every five years.
In Tshino village in Vuwani outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo
province, police said 11 suspects were arrested last week for torching houses
and a car belonging to a Zimbabwean traditional healer during violent protests
targeted at foreigners.
According to media reports in the neighbouring county,
streets were barricaded with rocks and burning tyres by angry community members
at Tshino.
The angry community members left a trail of destruction,
with property belonging to Zimbabweans burnt to ashes.
The local community is accusing illegal immigrants from
Zimbabwe of fuelling crime in the area.
Limpopo police spokesperson Col Moatshe Ngoepe said they
arrested 11 suspects in connection with the Tshino violent protests.
“We arrested 11 suspects on charges of public violence,
malicious damage to property and arson and they have since appeared at the
Vuwani Magistrates’ Court and were remanded to Friday. Our investigations are
ongoing and we hope to make more arrests. We condemn any act of violence and we
are saying those involved will face the full wrath of the law. Whoever has
grievances should follow the right channels rather than resort to violence,” he
said.
Col Ngoepe said eight houses belonging to foreigners were torched
during the violent protests.
He said although normalcy has returned, they were still
monitoring the situation.
In 2017, former South African President Jacob Zuma said it
was wrong for South Africans to solely blame all criminal activities on foreigners
and urged locals to exercise restraint, unite against crime and work with the
authorities to bring perpetrators of crime to book.
The latest attacks evoked ugly memories of the deadly
xenophobic attacks of 2015 which displaced hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans
and other African immigrants living in South Africa, following alleged
inflammatory remarks by Zulu king, Goodwill Zwelithini, who had called for the
expulsion of foreigners.
Efforts to contacts Zimbabwe’s Consul General to South
Africa, Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro, were fruitless as his phone went on
voicemail. Chronicle
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