http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1037748

Xenophobic attacks return
Sally Evans and Nkululeko Ncana Published:Jul 22, 2009

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has condemned attacks on foreigners in Mpumalanga.
The attacks, which have so far displaced about 100 foreigners living in Balfour, are chillingly similar to the early stages of last year’s xenophobic violence in which 67 people died around the country.

As with last year’s violence, the attacks in Mpumalanga happened under the guise of protests against service delivery. Residents began protesting on Sunday, demanding that local officials address complaints about access to water and electricity, and job opportunities.

But locals soon turned their attention to the foreign business-owners in the Siyathemba township in Balfour.

They looted the businesses of Ethiopian, Pakistani and Chinese shop owners. Several foreigners were assaulted.

Yesterday, about 100 displaced foreigners sought refuge at the Balfour police station. Police were last night still trying to find temporary shelter for them.

Police have arrested 99 residents for public violence.

Zuma’s spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said last night: “We are yet to corroborate the reports of violence in the service-delivery protest in Mpumalanga. However, the president’s view is that there is no excuse for violence or destruction of property of any sort, including the targeting of foreign nationals.

“President Zuma has on numerous occasions spoken against xenophobia in our country and he will continue to condemn it. The right to protest is not, at all, a licence for violent behaviour.”

Jody Kollapen, chair of the SA Human Rights Commission, said “following last year’s xenophobic violence, an uneasy calm settled and not enough was done to understand the cause of the attacks”.

“I am of the strong view that the violence is a result of socioeconomic ills and a perception among South Africans that they are being marginalised. They see the foreign nationals as unfair competition.”

Kollapen said there had not been a thorough investigation of last year’s violence or prosecution of perpetrators. “This was not enough to send a strong message that it should not happen again,” he said.

The Times reported in February that only 128 of the 1400 suspects arrested for xenophobic attacks were convicted and sentenced.

Kollapen said not enough was done to understand the root causes of the violence.

“Was it xenophobia, was it socioeconomic problems? If these were identified then proper programmes should have been put in place, across the board, from government to civil society,” Kollapen said.

In recent months there had been violence that included attacks on foreigners, he said.

“This is a competition for resources.”

Pakistani grocery store owner Mohamed Waqas, who has lived in Balfour for five years, said: “There was no warning. On Sunday night someone on a loudspeaker [called] for protest action. They then barricaded the road with rocks and the police told us to leave. I feel so bad because we have worked so hard, but now everything is gone … it’s finished.”

Balfour was still tense last night as mobs continued to destroy street signs, buildings and cars. All roads leading to Siyathemba were strewn with rocks, broken glass, mattresses and sign posts.

In nearby Greylingstad, police escorted foreign shop owners to safety as a precaution. In Siyathemba, sporadic violence and looting continued throughout yesterday. Police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse groups.

Two municipal buildings were torched, along with a truck and tractor belonging to the local council.

Shortly before looting a store owned by a Chinese resident, a protester told The Times: “The mayor did not give us the right answer to our memorandum [handed over in July demanding access to water and electricity and job opportunities].

“We still have work to do,” he said, pointing to the shops.

Nassir Hairtemam, an Ethiopian who has been in South Africa for seven years, was rescued by police on Sunday when looters ransacked his shop.

“ They came into our shops with stones and pangas. They would’ve killed us,” he said.

Not as fortunate was Melekamu Kachen. The 25-year-old Ethiopian beaten up by a mob and his store destroyed.

Superintendent Meshack Mtsweni, police operational commander in Balfour, said he feared for the lives of foreigners still in Siyathemba. “We cannot leave them in there because they will lose everything.”

Police patrolled Siyathemba last night.

Duncan Breen, spokesman for the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, said there were “escalating problems” in parts of Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Breen said: “This has been a long established pattern where foreigners are targeted [during service-delivery protests].”

He said locals used this as an excuse to “go out and loot”.

Paul Mbenyane, ANC spokesman in Mpumalanga, said: “It is criminal what is happening. The service-delivery protests might be legitimate, but we suspect that they are being taken over by criminals. What is troubling the ANC in this province is why would people complain about water but then decide to burn down a clinic or a library? Acts of violence against business people and their properties should be seen as acts of criminality and nothing else, and we urge police to bring those implicated to book.”

The Times understands that Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Sicelo Shiceka will visit Mpumalanga tomorrow. His team is expected to audit all the municipalities in the province.

Mohlalefi Lebotha, spokesman for the Dipaleseng municipality, which includes Balfour and Greylingstad, said a meeting with the protesters was scheduled for today .

He denied service delivery was slow in the municipal area.

“We are implementing several projects for infrastructure development. It’s not like nothing is happening.

“We are concerned because we believe criminal elements are using the protests for their own agenda,” he said.

— Additional reporting Sashni Pather, Dominic Mahlangu and Werner Swart