Townships in turmoil raise fears that xenophobia will spread

Violence against foreigners has flared up over the past week in Alexandra, a township in northern Johannesburg, South Africa, leaving two dead and more than 60 injured. Up to 1,000 people are still seeking refuge at a local police station and there are fears that xenophobic attacks will spread.

"On Sunday night [11 May] people were screaming and singing in the streets; some were holding guns. They started beating people and telling them to get out of their houses," Rocky Moyo, a Zimbabwean who has lived in Alexandra for three years, told IRIN.

"They said 'we don't want you here, you must leave our country!' I had to jump through a window to save my life," said Moyo, who managed to evade the angry mob and flee to the police station in Alexandra.

He found the courage to venture out once, earlier this week, only to find that all his belongings, including his passport, legal documents and savings, had been stolen. "Now I only have the clothes that I am wearing," he said.

Thomas Sithole, Chairman of the Alexandra Community Policing Forum, told IRIN that around 200 people were staying within the protection of the station during the day, but when night fell and violence took over the streets, the number climbed beyond 1,000.

Finding someone to blame

The violence in Alexandra allegedly began after a community meeting to address social problems in the area. The local policing forum's Sithole claimed that "criminals were hiding behind xenophobia and organised the mob to be able to steal and loot."

Eddie Matsangaise, programme manager for the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum in South Africa, told IRIN that some 200 youths took to the streets, targeting immigrants. "They [migrants] are being used as scapegoats," he said, adding that they were being accused of stealing South African jobs and held responsible for high crime rates, and blamed for poor service delivery and lack of adequate housing in the area.

They [migrants] are being used as scapegoats - They have fallen from the pot into the fire

According to Jody Kollapen, Chairman of the South African Human Rights Commission, the violence was part of a pattern of xenophobic attacks in South Africa and had now spread to other areas in Johannesburg, including Diepsloot township, northwest of Johannesburg.

Kollapen said it was important to look at the underlying factors contributing to the violence: communities in Alexandra and Diepsloot were widely viewed as marginalised, lacking basic services and last in line for re-development initiatives, but socio-economic deprivation and poverty could not justify such attacks. "Deep poverty and high levels of crime were used as an excuse to redirect people's frustration to 'soft targets': foreigners," he told IRIN.

A large percentage of the targeted people had come from Zimbabwe to escape shortages of basic commodities and fuel, 80 percent unemployment, hyperinflation and violence at home. "They have fallen from the pot into the fire," Matsangaise said. Up to three million Zimbabweans are estimated to have fled to South Africa.

The number of foreigners affected by the violence in Alexandra was probably far higher than the 1,000 packed into the police station and, with attacks still ongoing, more were trickling in every day. "Fear of deportation by the police is also keeping many people away," Matsangaise told IRIN, because immigrants often entered the country illegally in search of work and "lack the necessary legal documents".

The South African government said victims of the violence would not be subject to deportation or arrest; according to Sithole, of the local policing forum, the police had other more pressing issues to attend to. "We are stuck with our foreigners here in the police station, there is nowhere to take them," he told IRIN, adding that shelter and sanitation could become a problem.

Humanitarian response

Mbusa Mathembu, the Gauteng Provincial Manager for the South African Red Cross, said his organisation had been distributing blankets and food and administering first-aid since Monday. Church organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Médecins Sans Frontières, the international medical charity, and government agencies were also attending to the needs of those holed up at the station.

According to a statement by the City of Johannesburg on 16 May, the city set up a Joint Operations Centre (JOC) in Alexandra that "brings together local, provincial and national government and NGOs to help immigrants affected by the xenophobic violence in the township". Five tents, 10 chemical toilets and a water tank have been made available at the JOC.

"The City is again appealing to Johannesburg residents not to participate in violent attacks against any resident," Gabu Tugwana, the City's communication director, said in the statement.

Photo: Taurai Maduna/IRIN

Some victims of the violence managed to save some of their possessions. Others lost everything

"While acknowledging that there may be challenges in housing, unemployment and other issues, the governing structures have already started an intense programme to increase consultation with all members of the community," he added.

Neria Malefetse, the Alexandra police station communication officer, told IRIN: "We have beefed up police manpower, with constant patrols and high visibility in the township - we have got the xenophobic incidents under control."

Going home

But victims of the violence are very reluctant to return to the communities where they have been attacked, despite the South African government's promises of assistance and protection.

"Facilitating their return will be complex - people will not return if they are fearful," Kollapen told IRIN. "If people don't want to go back any more, the violence has achieved its objective," and other communities might do the same, he pointed out. "Many have already asked for assistance to go back to their home countries."

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