•Zuma cancels state trip
• Buhari backs FG on safety of Nigerians
South African police detained more than 30 people overnight as xenophobic violence simmered around the economic hub Johannesburg, officials said yesterday.
Anti-foreigner violence that erupted in the country’s eastern port city of Durban several weeks ago has so far left at least six people dead, spreading to Johannesburg, displacing thousands and sparking alarm at the United Nations and in neighbouring countries.
South African President Jacob Zuma cancelled a state visit to Indonesia with officials scrambling to respond to the deadly violence.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari expressed support for federal government’s move to ensure the safety of Nigerians in that country while President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe denounced the attacks as shocking and disgusting.
Overnight, small groups attacked shops in several areas around Johannesburg, police said.
“More than 30 people were arrested last night. At this stage the situation is calm but we plan to increase our deployment,” police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini told AFP.
“They are going to be charged for public violence, malicious damage to property, house breaking and theft,” he said.
Police had to use rubber bullets to disperse the looters in Alexandra, an impoverished township north of the city, he said.
Several thousand foreigners have fled their homes to shelter in makeshift camps amid the violence, and neighbouring Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique announced plans to evacuate their citizens.
The latest burst of anti-foreigner violence in the country has been largely blamed on a speech last month by King Goodwill Zwelithini, traditional leader of the Zulus, in which he blamed foreigners for South Africa’s high crime rate and said they must “take their bags and go”.
The king has since said his words were misinterpreted, but for some, Zwelithini simply articulated what many were feeling.
This is not the first wave of anti-foreigner violence in South Africa. In January, foreign shopkeepers in and around the vast township of Soweto, south of Johannesburg, were forced to flee and six were killed as looters rampaged through the area.
And in 2008, 62 people were killed in xenophobic violence across the city’s townships.
President Jacob Zuma cancelled a state visit to Indonesia yesterday,saying “there can be no justification for the attacks on foreign nationals. These attacks go against everything we believe in.”
He added:”The majority of South Africans love peace and good relations with their brothers and sisters in the continent. We will engage stakeholders next week as we need all leaders to work together to bring the situation to normality. Working together we will be able to overcome this challenge.”
Neighbouring Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique have announced plans to evacuate their citizens.
Reflecting international concern, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees noted most victims targeted “are refugees and asylum seekers who were forced to leave their countries due to war and persecution.”
Yesterday’s violence was focused in Alexandra, an impoverished township north of Johannesburg, where police fired rubber bullets to disperse the looters.
In the Zimbabwean capital Harare, demonstrators marched to the South African embassy to condemn what they called the “senseless and gruesome slaughter” of fellow Africans — a protest Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe echoed yesterday.
“We are glad President Zuma has assured us that this is not the South African way,” Mugabe said during the country’s 35th independence anniversary, when he also noted his “shock and disgust as we abhor the incident that happened in Durban where some five or six people were burnt to death deliberately by some members of the South African Zulu community.”
President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, said yesterday that he was in full support of the steps taken so far by the federal government to protect Nigerians in South Africa from the wave of xenophobic attacks.
Nigeria’s Head of Mission in Pretoria,according to Buhari, took the right steps by advising the Nigerian community in South Africa to close their shops, stay home and keep out of trouble, while ensuring that they obey the laws of their host country.
“We equally understand that the South African government is making efforts to bring an end to this unfortunate situation,” General Buhari said,adding: “In the meantime, Nigerians in South Africa should abide by the words of caution extended them by their government representative in Pretoria.”
He was happy that government “is very well aware of its responsibilities to its citizens in South Africa,” General Buhari said.
This is not the first wave of anti-foreigner violence in South Africa. In January, foreign shopkeepers in and around the vast township of Soweto, south of Johannesburg, were forced to flee and six were killed as looters rampaged through the area.
And in 2008, 62 people — including about 20 South Africans — were killed in clashes across the city’s townships.
