Xenophobic attacks send shivers on foreigners in SA

Cape Town - Foreigners living and working in South Africa have been gripped with fear following a spat of xenophobic attacks in Durban on Monday. These attacks are alleged to have been sparked by Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini and President Jacob Zuma's eldest son Edward Zuma this past week.

One person has been reported dead while two others are also feared dead after a mob attacked their shop. An estimated 120 foreigners have taken refuge at Isipingo Police Station. A Congolese man, Noel Beya Dinshistia, was set alight and killed after he took a job as a bouncer at a local nightclub.

People who attended his memorial service said xenophobia was making life in South Africa untenable. They further reiterated that if the government wants to chase away foreigners, they should be ready to collect South Africans based in their country who owned mining companies and other businesses there while "we are suffering in South Africa."

Violence in Isipingo erupted with both the locals pelting stones and bricks at each other.

According to a police source in the area, the conflict erupted after a group of men pelted the foreigners with stones, accusing them of destroying local businesses.

"The group of foreigners also run businesses in the area and when they were attacked by locals, they fought back pelting their attackers with stones. Because the area is next to a taxi rank, about five taxis were hit by the bricks. That made the situation worse," said the source.

"This is black Easter in KZN for foreigners," said China Ngubane, a human-rights activist based in Durban, who was on the scene.

"In Malugazi, 3km from Isipingo, shops are being looted now. One Ethiopian was allegedly killed."

"In Kenville, near Moses Mabhida Stadium, roads are blocked; foreign-owned shops looted. One Indian couple was chased from a house. There were reports that the couple may have been killed," Ngubane said in an email.

It is believed that the riots were sparked by comments made by Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini last week. Zwelithini was reported to have said that foreigners should be deported as they were competing with locals for employment opportunities.

President Jacob Zuma's son, Edward, has come out in full support of King Goodwill Zwelithini's controversial call to deport foreigners from South Africa.

"We need to be aware that as a country we are sitting on a ticking time bomb of them [foreigners] taking over the country.

"The reason why I am saying that is because some of the foreigners are working for private security companies where they have been employed for cheap labour. These companies are running away from complying with South African labour laws," said the president's eldest son.

Zimbabweans based in Cape Town have expressed their fear over these attacks and have shown their concern for some of their friends and relatives based in Durban. They said they were now afraid that this might spread to the rest of the country, some were even talking of preparing to leave South Africa before this got worse.

However, the South African Human Rights Commission has launched a probe into the remarks, but Zwelithini has now denied making them.