Thousands of foreigners head back to KZN homes

MEC: MCHUNU COMMMENDS LEADERS WHO HELPED END VIOLENCE

Reintegration of victims of attacks that gripped province ‘going swiftly’.

The reintegration of foreign nationals who fled their homes during last month’s xenophobic attacks in KwaZulu-Natal is now nearing completion, KZN MEC for community safety, Willies Mchunu said.

Addressing civil society leaders whose organisations played a pivotal role in ending the xenophobic violence around Durban, Mchunu said a majority of the thousands of foreign nationals sheltered in refugee camps around the city had already been returned to the same communities from where they had been driven out during the attacks.

“Two out of the four camps that had been set up had already been closed,” he said when he met the leaders in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday.

The government had not received any reports of xenophobic attacks for almost two weeks, the MEC said.

“As the KZN government, we are proud of the role you have played in ending these attacks that were threatening to tear our province apart and damage the reputation of our country,” he said.

The xenophobic attacks, which were accompanied by the looting of foreign-owned shops, had spread to provinces such as Gauteng and the Eastern Cape before being curbed. Seven people died countrywide.

“We will continue to encourage those foreign nationals who are in the country illegally to return to their countries and sort out their travel documents before entering South Africa,” Mchunu said.