Johannesburg | Tuesday
NEARLY 1 000 Zimbabweans are destitute and seeking refuge at a Johannesburg police station following the torching of their homes in a squatter camp, South African police said on Tuesday.
“They have about 450 people looking for shelter at the police station and one of their leaders told me they have about another 500 people on their way to the station,” said police representative Terry-Anne Booyse.
The violence against Zimbabweans in South Africa ignited at Zandspruit squatter camp over the weekend when residents torched more than 100 shacks belonging to Zimbabweans.
Booyse said four shacks were burnt down and one demolished on Monday night, when residents returned from work. Police reported early on Monday that another shack had been torched.
She said 29 people have been arrested for public violence over the past two days. They are expected to appear in court in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
“We have three police vans and 15 members patrolling the area,” said Booyse, speaking from the settlement, 20 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg.
“It is very calm now. People are going to work and children are going to school.”
She said the police would send in reinforcements later in the day when the camp filled up after work. The camp has an estimated 15 000 shacks and some 50 000 residents.
The residents, who decided to expel the Zimbabweans on Sunday, have accused them of being involved in crime and “taking the jobs of South Africans”.
Jackson Sibanda, who is originally from Bulawayo, said the trouble started a month ago when a South African was apparently killed in a shootout with a Zimbabwean in a tavern.
Sibanda, who has lived in the area since 1994, said he was now too scared to return to salvage his possessions from his burnt-out shack – AFP