Crime, not xenophobia, cause of protests: Zuma
“ENOUGH is enough,” chanted under-attack foreign nationals yesterday, with some saying South Africans must be taught a lesson, even if blood was shed.
“We have been quiet for way too long. These guys loot our shops, smash our cars and harass our children. We are taking a stand for ourselves, and, if needs be, we are willing to die for what we believe in,” said a Somali tuckshop owner.
Yesterday a message was also going out digitally urging foreigners to fight back against the small group targeting them. The voice message claims that xenophobic attacks between 2000 and 2008 had left 129 foreigners dead, with 67 killed in 2008 alone.
Another Pretoria shop owner said: “We are tired. South Africans should be taught a lesson once and for all. And if it means blood must be shed, then so be it.”
Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba had earlier asked if South Africans should start counting how many of them had died at the hands of Nigerians. This was after Nigeria criticised the country over the attacks on foreigners and called for the AU to intervene.
Gigaba called a meeting with African ambassadors yesterday. He said residents are targeting immigrants involved in crime.
Acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane said 136 people had been arrested in Pretoria West within a 24-hour period and the situation was “under control”.
President Jacob Zuma warned refugees to behave or risk being discriminated against by the government.
Speaking at an event on service delivery in the agricultural sector, he said: “One of the things we do in South Africa, we are not operating like other countries. In other countries refugees are put in camps, but we respect human rights. But if they operate the way they do, they may be forcing us to discriminate and yet we thought we could handle the situation.”
He told locals to desist from displaying xenophobic tendencies and to march peacefully against crime.
“I was told the marchers in Mamelodi had foreigners with them, who are anti-crime.
“It is important the media as communicators make that point. We tend to emphasise xenophobia even though those people have not talked about it.”
He stressed the marches were a demonstration against crime affecting communities, and not xenophobic. He said people were forced to march because of the impact of drugs and prostitution.
“Crime, if it goes on too long, reaches a point where citizens feel they can no longer tolerate it.”
Immigrants denied being involved in crime.
We are not criminals. If these people are angry about crime, then why don’t they go after the criminals? There are no drugs or prostitutes here, you can see,” said Imran Sheikh Abdullah, a spokesperson for the immigrant community.
“These people are not here to fight any crime. They are here to loot and plunder our resources. They are taking advantage of the current tension. I don’t know what is going to happen to us. We have nowhere else to go.”
Abdul Noor said he had hastily left his shop in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria, after the protesters pounced and looted his stock.
Congolese national Lipasa Nketani, who works as a security guard, said the protests had left him and his family petrified. “How do South Africans do that to their fellow Africans? Why target Africans only if they are genuine about fighting crime? I was pushed by circumstances beyond my control to be in South Africa. People are dying in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Nketani.
“I have been here 17 years. There are many South Africans doing business in my country. In Congo we are not treating South Africans the way they are treating us. We don’t regard South Africans in Congo as foreigners. We are one.”
The Mamelodi Concerned Residents, the main group behind the protest, blamed foreign nationals for “taking” jobs and accused them of being involved in prostitution and drug cartels.The protesters circled Pretoria city centre calling for foreigners to “go home” and stop selling drugs.
Skirmishes between demonstrators and police and foreign nationals erupted. By late afternoon the city centre was quiet.