It started with community meetings about crime and taxis and ended in an orgy of xenophobic violence that tore one of Johannesburg’s oldest townships apart.
In the days before mobs swept through Alexandra a meeting blamed foreigners for a recent spike in crime in the township and complained that the police were not taking action.
Tuesday May 6
During a meeting residents threatened to take matters into their own hands and remove foreigners from the area, according to Alexandra Community Police Forum (ACPF) chairperson Thomas Sithole. Sithole said police assured residents they would deal with the issue.
Saturday May 10
Then the renegade Alexandra Residents Association (ARA) held a meeting with taxi drivers to discuss concerns that foreigners were taking over the taxi industry.
Taxi drivers were unhappy about the growing number of foreigners working in the industry. They said foreigners were taking away their jobs and were willing to work for lower wages.
Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Diaspora Forum, Sox Chikowero, who attended the meeting, says people accused Zimbaweans of driving crime in the area and “taking away our jobs and our women”. Chikowero said it was agreed that non-nationals would be driven from the township.
Sunday May 11
By nightfall mobs were rampaging through Alex.
Phumzile Sibanda, a young Zimbabwean woman, said she was asleep on Sunday night when a group of men stormed into her shack and demanded that she and her boyfriend pack their bags and leave. “They beat us up and told us to make sure that when they return we are no longer here or they would kill us.”
Afraid and confused, Sibanda and her boyfriend ran to seek refuge with their South African neighbours. But the mob returned and found them again. “They knew where we were. When I saw them come in I was afraid for my life. They grabbed me and said they were going to rape me, and I could do nothing.” Sibanda’s neighbour pleaded with the gang not to rape her, saying that they were mistaken: she was the neighbour’s daughter and not a foreigner. “That’s when they let me go. I was lucky,” said Sibanda.
In the violence that evening two people were killed — one reportedly a local who refused to join the mob. Dozens were injured, women were raped and houses destroyed. Over the coming days, the toll would rise.
Monday May 12
By afternoon the tension was palpable. Accompanied by police and sympathetic neighbours Zimbabweans and other foreigners went to see what could be rescued from the piles of wood and broken glass that used to be their homes. Women bravely gather the remains of their cutlery, bedding and clothes. In the background angry young men with bloodshot eyes and reeking of alcohol walked around swinging knobkieries, spears, golf clubs and other makeshift weapons. They cursed the now homeless foreigners. “You better be out of here by seven tonight or we will kill you,” said a young man holding two golf clubs and a bottle of beer. There was no reaction from the victims or the police escorting them.
By this time, the crisis had taken on a distinctly ethnic flavour. The area at the centre of the violence is known as Zulu territory, dominated by the Inkatha Freedom Party. As in the Eighties when township residents were pitted against hostel dwellers, the area around London Road and 5th Avenue had become a no-go area for outsiders.
A loudspeaker announced a meeting in the KwaMadala area near Nobuhle hostel, in the heart of IFP territory. Led by a police van, party officials arrived in a light commercial vehicle, promising to listen to the grievances of the people. They had been stung by accusations that the IFP had orchestrated the violence.
A crowd gathered, carrying golf clubs, sticks and other weapons, and followed the IFP leaders singing: “Lelizwe elethu, aba hambe” (this country is ours — they [foreigners] should leave). About 200 people gather in an open space between the hostel and informal settlement. IFP MP Bongikosi Dlamini told the crowd his party is not behind the orgy of violence. “As the IFP, we are here to make it clear that we condemn these attacks and are here to ask you not to go around attacking people in the IFP’s name.”
But Dlamini was quick to add that the IFP understood the frustrations of the people “as indeed the government has failed you, but you should not continue these attacks as opportunistic criminals will take advantage and you, as South Africans, would end up fighting against each other”.
Sam Thembe, a shopkeeper, told the MP: “It hurts that they are leaving, as business people we gain from them, but they are criminals. Sometimes I close the shop late and I see them breaking into peoples houses, they should leave.” A middle-aged resident agreed: “Our brothers from Mozambique and Zimbabwe should go back home or else we pick up spears and guns …” He was interrupted by residents lifting their weapons and shouting in unison: “Ama kalanga awahambe noma afe.” (The foreigners must leave or die.)
Dlamini calmed the crowd, saying: “As the IFP we understand your frustrations, however, our Constitution says South Africa is a South Africa for all, which means everyone including the foreigners are welcome.” He adds: “The IFP argued that the Constitution should, in fact, say South Africa is a South Africa for all that were born in it, however, the ANC, as usual, did not listen to us.”
As time goes on, the discussion gets hotter and hotter. The MP can offer nothing more than “discussions”.
Many say Alex is the last place they expected this kind of violence to erupt. It is known as multi-cultural and multi-national, a melting pot where South Africans and foreigners from different race and ethnic groups have lived together for years. One life-long resident, 25-year-old Thandi Madlala, says she has always had Mozambican neighbours, “and it’s never been an issue”.
But fingers are being pointed at the ARA, who were involved in the meeting that brought xenophobic hatred to the boil. The ARA is accused of orchestrating the violence and encouraging the idea that foreigners should be driven out.
Sithole of the community police forum said it was at the ARA meeting on Saturday that a decision was taken to “drive foreigners away”. He said the forum had had problems with the association before and said it had masqueraded as part of the ACPF in order to gain support from the community.
Chikowero from the Zimbabwean Diaspora Forum said the original intention of the meeting had been taxi-related. But, other issues had cropped up and a criminal element had hijacked the initiative for their own ends, looting, pillaging and rampaging through the township.
Thursday May 15
By the afternoon residents were carting away doors and scrap metal from a ransacked warehouse where Zimbabweans and Mozambicans used to live. The body of a Mozambican had just been discovered, but it was starting to feel like no one is safe in the township. There were reports of gangs targeting Vendas, Shangaans and Xhosas, and there were fears of reprisals.
Thandazile Msimang (23), originally from KwaZulu-Natal, was refusing to listen to police who told her to pack up her belongings and leave for her own safety. “I am not going anywhere. I belong here. I am from Nkandla.”