SA to meet African envoys over xenophobic attacks
home, we should do the same, we must embrace our neighbours and fellow Africans. South Africa has been supported by all African countries and many countries in the world to have a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council; it is currently the Vice Chairperson of the AU and the Chair of AU in 2020. These responsibilities require that we must welcome and lead in building bridges between nations, particularly in SADC and the continent,” she said.
“All of us must stand up and send a strong message that violence, all criminal activities and looting of properties of foreign nationals will not be tolerated, and the police and other lawenforcement agencies must act without fear or favour.”
This comes after graphic videos and images circulated on social media last week showing foreigners being attacked. Police had to intervene in the affected areas of Kenville, Inanda Road and Sea Cow Lake in Durban.
More than 100 foreigners, among them Zimbabweans, were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge at Sydenham Police Station.
A Zimbabwean truck driver Mr Tineyi Takawira was also caught up in the xenophobic attacks and had to be hospitalised.
The first violence broke out in the Kenville area, north of Durban last Sunday at about 11PM when mobs of protesters burst into the homes of foreign nationals, moving door-to-door and seizing belongings, from beds and TV sets to pots and baskets, before targeting foreign-operated shops. The protesters, numbering about 100, blocked Sea Cow Lake and Inanda roads using rubble from burnt tyres. According to South African media reports, it is believed that the unemployed informal settlement residents were angry that foreign nationals were employed by local companies.
Two of the victims were shot by a foreign tuck shop owner who opened fire on the mob, which was looting his shop. Two suspects aged 22 and 28 years have been arrested for public violence and have since appeared at the Durban magistrates’ court.
A Zimbabwean couple and its two children have also been killed in Cape Town in violence likely linked to xenophobia too. They were burnt to death while three other children, among them a 10 month-old baby, are battling for their lives in hospital in Cape Town after their shack caught fire in a suspected arson attack.
The incident occurred last Saturday at an informal settlement in Mbekweni area of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province.
It is alleged that Mr Maxwell Mazungunye’s rented shack was petrol-bombed by his landlord’s son who is now reportedly at large after allegedly committing the gruesome offence. The family was sleeping in its zinc and wood makeshift structure at around 1AM when fire engulfed the structure.
Mr Mazungunye (40), his wife Margaret Vare (27) and their two children Miriam (19) and Tadiwanashe (6) from Sanyati in Mashonaland West Province died on the spot. The other three children Vanessa (17) and Tatenda (6) are admitted to Paarl Hospital while their 10 month old sibling Michaela, the worst affected, is at Red Cross Children’s Hospital’s intensive care unit.
Maxwell’s sister, Ms Rosemary Mazungunye said the four bodies were taken to a local mortuary pending forensic investigations.
“We are waiting for police to finish their forensic investigations before the bodies are repatriated to Zimbabwe on Tuesday (tomorrow). We are also appealing for assistance so that we are able to meet the costs of repatriating the bodies for burial in their rural home in Sanyati. The deaths are overwhelming and obviously never planned for hence we are saying those wishing to assist us can contact me on (0027) 611097894 or my brother on (0027) 730478196,” she said.
Ms Mazungunye said the three victims who survived the inferno sustained life threatening burns with the 10 month old set to undergo graft surgery involving the transplantation of the skin.
In 2017, another Zimbabwean man, his wife and their two children, were among 10 people who died after thousands of shacks caught fire at another informal settlement in Cape Town.
Vusumuzi Nsimba (48), originally of Entumbane suburb in Bulawayo died together with his family when their shack in Wesbank, caught fire.
The Durban attacks come just after the South African government launched a national action plan to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and ethnic intolerance.
That country’s Justice and Constitutional Development Deputy Minister John Jeffery launched the plan at the St George Hotel in Irene during an event attended by civil society organisations and government officials.
The document was approved by Cabinet last month and will be revised every five years.
The latest attacks evoked ugly memories of the deadly xenophobic attacks of 2015 which displaced hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans and other African immigrants living in South Africa, following alleged inflammatory remarks by Zulu king, Goodwill Zwelithini, who had called for the expulsion of foreigners. — @mashnets ZIMBABWE’S economy is on a recovery path, with the target of becoming a middle income economy by 2030 set to be achieved, President Mnangagwa has said.
The President said this in a speech read on his behalf by Zanu-PF Secretary for Finance Cde Patrick Chinamasa at the inaugural India Diaspora Convention yesterday.
“The country is on a path to economic recovery,” he said. “We have set ourselves a shared, ambitious yet achievable vision of becoming a middle income economy by 2030.
“We are confident that we will achieve this vision. However, our developmental trajectory will be smoother and softer with support from friends like India and its corporate citizens and the Indian Diaspora.”
President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe and India had strong historical and cultural relations, with the Indian community contributing to the country’s development.
“Indeed, that respect is grounded in the immense contribution and cooperation that this community has made over the years to this country in business, in politics, in diplomacy, in health, in academia and in many other walks of life,” he said.
The President said India was a potential market for Zimbabwe’s goods and a source of investment.
“India is both a potential market for Zimbabwean goods, as well as a source of investment and technology,” he said. “There is a huge opportunity for Indian businesses which, taken at its tide, will see this growing economy in the world establishing a foothold in Zimbabwe in manufacturing and provision of services for the entire African region.”
President Mnangagwa thanked Indian companies that have invested in Zimbabwe, adding that vast opportunities were there in the health sector.
“On the health sector, it is not a secret that Indian medical and pharmaceutical companies have made a huge impact on the African market by providing access to life-saving drugs at affordable prices,” he said.
“In Zimbabwe, there are vast opportunities for Indian pharmaceutical companies to invest and partner local companies to supply the whole of Southern Africa, if not the continent, with Zimbabwe as the hub for the medicines and other pharmaceutical products.”
President Mnangagwa thanked the Indian government for providing a grant for the construction of the India-Africa Incubation Centre that he recently commissioned.
The centre provides training in entrepreneurship in various areas that include plastic bottle manufacturing, cell phone assembly, paper and diaper manufacturing.
President Mnangagwa said Government was working on improving the investment climate as espoused in the Transitional Stabilisation Programme.
“We are also intensifying efforts to address the ease of doing business in Zimbabwe by addressing regulatory bottlenecks and streamlining bureaucratic processes that have been impeding business,” he said.
“In this regard, we have established the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Authority, which is a one stop centre for investment facilitation.
“Government has also established Special Economic Zones as a strategy to accelerate Foreign Direct Investment in targeted sectors.”
President Mnangagwa urged the Indian Diaspora to continue playing a positive role in the country’s economy.
Indian ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Rungsung Masakui said the two countries shared a long history dating back to pre-colonial times.
“India and Zimbabwe are connected by a shared history, language, culture and people to people relations,” he said. “Before colonialists came to our respective countries we were already engaged in trade in items that include gold, metals and fabrics.
“Indian Diaspora has contributed a lot to the development of this country.”
Mr Masakui said the Convention was aimed at raising awareness of various opportunities available in the country and thanked the Government for making the Indian community feel at home.