Nosimilo Ndlovu
Guest Author
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/ 31 May 2008

Life goes on amid xenophobic misery

Primrose, a middle-class suburb in the east of Johannesburg, was one of the areas hardest hit by the xenophobic attacks that began three weeks ago. The neighbourhood’s Primula Street — usually quiet and calm — was packed with thousands of refugees seeking shelter from the violence. Some of them slept on the streets.

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/ 24 May 2008

The 21-st century pencil test

In a practice that recalls the humiliating "tests" used by apartheid officials to classify coloureds as white or black, reports came in that South African mobs were using similar techniques to identify foreigners. A language test is first, where one is asked to label certain body parts in isiZulu. Certain words in the Zulu language are no longer used on a daily basis.

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/ 24 May 2008

An angel who started cooking

It is lunchtime and two police officers from the Alexandra station have arrived to collect 50 loaves of bread and four enormous plastic tubs filled with fresh stew for the refugees who have sought sanctuary at the police station from the violence.The officers pack the lunch into the back of a police van and drive off.