South Africa's 'state-sponsored xenophobia' exposed

The Right2Know coalition has called on government to stop the current police raids conducted as part of the state's anti-xenophobia campaign‚ branding them state-coordinated xenophobia.

The raids began two weeks ago following a spate of xenophobic attacks in the country which resulted in the death of seven people.

Police began the raids on xenophobic "hot spots"‚ including Jeppe Hostel in Johannesburg.

However‚ they have continued into residential areas and resulted in arrests of more than 400 people‚ mostly criminals and foreign nationals who were found to be in the country illegally.

The coalition has called on President Jacob Zuma to stop the raids‚ which it says have become an excuse for police harassment and brutality on foreign nationals.

In the early hours of Friday morning the SAPS‚ together with the army and officials from the Department of Home Affairs‚ raided an area in the Johannesburg CBD‚ which included a raid on the Central Methodist Church - a site which has long been a refuge for desperate and poor foreign refugees.

More than 400 people were reportedly arrested in the raid in the Johannesburg CBD.

This follows in the wake of the police raids‚ which were performed by regular police‚ the police tactical response unit‚ assisted by the army and accompanied by officials from home affairs‚ in the Thembelihle community last week.

Many members of the Thembelihle informal settlement near Lenasia‚ south of Johannesburg‚ have since reported that the police stole from them and brutally assaulted them during that raid.

"The SAPS' official explanation for the raid on the Johannesburg CBD‚ similar to their justification for the raid on Thembelihle‚ has been that it was performed in order to target "criminal activities" in the area‚" said the coalition's Gauteng coordinator Julie Reid.

"However‚ this then calls into question the presence of the army and the home affairs officials during the raids.

"The government has told us that the deployment of the army within the Johannesburg area is to assist the police with quelling the recent instances of xenophobic violence. But why employ the army and officials from home affairs to assist SAPS with operations which are aimed at targeting "criminal activities"?

Reid said It is clear that president Zuma is using the context of the xenophobic attacks and the presence of "illegal immigrants" in poor communities as an excuse to send in the police‚ the army and home affairs officials to target foreign nationals‚ while officials utter the words ‘criminal activity' as a guise for what are really acts of xenophobia enacted by the government.

She said these measures by government‚ SAPS and the army only serve to exacerbate xenophobic tensions within the country and do nothing to solve them.

"The raid in Johannesburg took place at night‚ while people and children were sleeping – a frightening experience for the people who were targeted‚ especially the children.

"It is deplorable that a symbol of refuge like the Central Methodist Church should be the target of such a crude and brutal attack by the police. Attempts to determine how many refugee community members were arrested‚ or the reasons for their detention‚ have proved fruitless. Despite the presence of home affairs and immigration officers during the raid‚ many foreign nationals were reportedly arrested even though they were in possession of asylum papers'" Reid said.

She said the police in the Gauteng Johannesburg area are now openly and brazenly targeting foreign nationals‚ assisted by the army‚ in what can only be described as state-sponsored and state-coordinated xenophobia.