THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 11 2012 02:37 | LAST UPDATED Feb 11 2012 02:37
News | National | General

Xenophobia: National day of mourning postponed

 JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 24 2008 09:59


A national day of mourning scheduled for Tuesday in South Africa in honour of those killed in a recent wave of xenophobic violence has been postponed, a government statement said.

"The planned National Day of Healing scheduled for Tuesday June 24 has been postponed," said the statement by government spokesperson Themba Maseko.

He said that the postponement was "to enable more planning to be done and to ensure that more people participate in events of the day", adding that the government would set a new date soon.

At least 21 of the 62 people killed in the violence were South Africans.

The government described the violence as "senseless."

An earlier statement said that the day would not be a holiday but a "day on which the public will be expected to pay its respects to those who lost their lives during the violence".

A total of 1 300 violent incidents were reported and more than 1 000 people were arrested.

The violence broke out last month, with mobs attacking homes and looting immigrant-owned stores, especially around Johannesburg, the country's economic capital where foreigners have become targets of complaints by locals about high unemployment and crime levels.

Thousands fled South Africa for their home countries, while about 30 000 are living in camps. -- AFP

CONTINUES BELOW
TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

Related Articles

Tags

People

comment guidelines
  1. Please review our comment guidelines
  2. Post your comment in the block below and press "Post as ..."
  3. Please allow between 15 minutes and 48 hours for your comment to go live
  4. Racist, sexist or stupid comments will be terminated with extreme prejudice
blog comments powered by Disqus



LATEST ARTICLES IN THIS SECTION



Client Media Releases

@mailandguardian - Top stories & newsflashes
@NicDawes - M&G editor Nic Dawes
@ChrisRoperZA - Editor, M&G Online
@amabhungane - M&G Centre for Investigative Journ
@mgfeed - Our whole news feed


Advertisements