Jeppestown, Sunday, 3pm
Apart from the clothes he’s wearing, Arumando Marrambe says he has nothing left. Last night about seven men broke into his house on Lemon Street and took his fridge, TV, home theatre system and his passport and told him to get out. They also stole the tyres and radio from his Toyota Cressida before smashing the windscreen.
Marrambe said: “Me and other Mozambicans hired two cars and sent our families back to Mozambique when Alexandra started.” Now he says he has no choice but to quit his job as a welder and go home. “I am not resigning but how can you work in a situation like this?” All he wants is a letter from the police that will allow him to cross the border. — Percy Zvumoya
Troyeville, Monday, 6pm
As night fell a few late commuters hurried on their way, keeping their heads down. The usually bustling street was eerily deserted, there was mostly just litter tumbling along. The bottle store and the bar next door had pulled down their roller shutters — there would be no drink sold tonight. Rumours had been swirling in my suburb, perched above Jeppe, throughout the day. “Tonight. They say they’re coming tonight,” people told one another. Shopkeepers kept an eye on the street and some posted a guard at the entrance. They closed their doors, keeping one ajar — the quicker to slam it shut should things get out of hand. — Matthew Burbidge
Reiger Park, Monday, 7pm
It was fantastic to see how the community rallied around, helping close to 6 000 displaced people who had ended up among them from Ramaphosaville, the informal settlement across the road. Residents were coming out of their homes, mosques and shops with loaves of bread and baby formula and piles and piles of nappies. — Paul Botes
Jeppe hostel, Tuesday, 11am
The conditions are revolting. We went to this mens-only hostel to speak with the indunas. Seven of them come to talk to us. Each man pays R25 a month for a single room, but they share it with four or five people. There were burst pipes and algae was growing along the corridor. You can see someone taking a shower in the communal bathrooms through the broken windows. A lot of young men live there, mostly unemployed. The indunas don’t want us to go into the rooms or take photographs. They feel humiliated and say they’re tired of being laughed at. “Pigs don’t live like this,” one said. — Monako Dibetle
Ramaphosaville, Tuesday, 1pm
As I was leaving I saw a police car parked in the veld near a house, so I drove over. There was a burned body on the ground. Tyres were still smouldering next to it. The cops had covered it with a pink sheet. I could see marks in the dust where the guy was dragged out of a house about 10m away.
I walked over to the house — four rooms, brick. Near the door there were some kids’ toys lying in the dust — a little doll, a laser gun, a car. I thought “Fuck, where are the kids?” A group of people was standing around, watching — like hyenas. I went over and asked them about the family and what had happened. But no one knew anything. No one ever knows anything — Paul Botes
Actonville, Tuesday, 4pm
A delegation of ministers arrives at Actonville police station to address the community. It includes Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula, Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils, Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour and Firoz Cachalia, Gauteng MEC for safety and security.
Finally some national leaders had arrived to talk to the community. Hundreds of people are streaming to the police station for what they anticipate will be a feedback session. The cavalcade arrives — black BMWs, Mercs, Metro police cars. People in the crowd say now they’ll get a chance to ask questions and express their views. Nqakula climbs on the back of a van and speaks through a hand-held microphone in Xhosa. For five minutes he condemns the killings and tells people how to behave. Then he gets down and the ministers and officials all disappear inside the station. The crowd starts booing and I heard someone say “we are going to beat them [foreigners] again”. People couldn’t believe that was it. The crowd dispersed slowly, angrily. — Monako Dibetle
Jeppe police station, Tuesday, 8pm
As we leave the station we come across a woman frantically pacing the pavement outside, clutching a howling baby under a blanket. Her name is Alina Kayoya and she’s a refugee from Burundi. Her flat has just been attacked and in the chaos her other children, aged five and 13, have vanished. She’s come to the police station in the hope someone will bring them in. Despite entreaties by emergency workers, she won’t go inside to the safety of the courtyard while her children are out alone in the night. — Nicole Johnston
Mayfair, Tuesday, 8.30pm
Shukri Apshir and Zuleika Dahir are terrified — a mob has marched up their street pointing out the houses belonging to foreigners. They are Somali refugees and single mothers and have lived here for 14 years. “We don’t take anything from anyone — we are sweating and saving money to feed our children and send them to school.” They still have only asylum-seeker documents — they have no passports and couldn’t leave if they wanted to. They feel trapped: “If you’re staying in a country and the government doesn’t like you, you can hide with the locals. But if the locals don’t like you, that is the end of it.” — Nicole Johnston
Swanning around: a diary of SA’s absent leadership
Sunday May 11:
First attacks on foreigners start in Alexandra ‹ two people killed
May 12:
President Thabo Mbeki meets religious leaders to discuss Zimbabwe, antiÂpoverty strategy and the schools¹ pledge
Violence in Alex continues ‹ 40 people injured
May 13:
Mbeki meets the Higher Education Working Group
Three teenagers stabbed in Alexandra
May 14:
Mbeki flies to Maputo to meet Mozambican president to discuss the status of relations between the two countries
Violence erupts in Diepsloot
May 15:
Snack shops and other shops burned in Diepsloot
May 16:
The Trade Union Working Group
meets Mbeki
400 foreigners spend night at Alexandra police station
May 17:
Xenophobic attacks spread to East Rand
Mbeki opens International Investment Council at San Lameer in KwaZuluÂNatal
Sunday May 18:
Five people killed in attacks in Cleveland, Johannesburg
Mbeki complains that a Œfactory of lies¹ is producing stories about him
May 19:
Mbeki speaks out for the first time to condemn xenophobic attacks
Hacked body of Malawian man found in Ramaphosa informal settlement near Boksburg’s Reiger Park
May 20:
Jacob Zuma attends his daughter¹s graduation in London
Mbeki meets Agricultural Working Group in Cape Town and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka celebrates Africa Day in the Czech Republic
Xenophobic attacks spread to Durban
May 21:
Mbeki flies to Arusha, Tanzania
Attacks spread to Mpumalanga
The army is called in
May 22:
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka visits the Slovak Republic to strengthen relations between SA and Slovakia
3 000 Mozambicans board buses to go home
Jacob Zuma meets Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris
Research: MANDY ROSSOUW