A Somali community in Johannesburg on Thursday accused police of firing live ammunition at its members as more xenophobic attacks were reported in Gauteng and former Cabinet minister Kader Asmal questioned claims of ‘third force’ involvement in the attacks.
As the sun set on another bloody day of xenophobic violence in Gauteng on Monday, at least 22 people were reported dead, many more injured and 217 arrested for fierce attacks on both foreigners and local residents living in the greater Johannesburg area. Aid organisations were assisting thousands of refugees at civic centres and police stations.
Opposition parties on Monday lambasted the government for its handling of xenophobic violence in parts of the country, and even called for the army to be deployed. Mobs roaming through poor townships around Johannesburg have killed and beaten up immigrants over the past week, with Zimbabweans and others reporting purges by armed locals.
A wave of xenophobic attacks spread through Johannesburg townships on Monday. Mobs beat foreigners and set some ablaze in scenes reminiscent of apartheid-era violence. A total of 22 people have now been killed in the violence directed at immigrants around Johannesburg, which began a week ago.
As a fresh wave of severe xenophobic violence gripped Johannesburg on Sunday, with five people killed in the Cleveland area, hundreds fleeing to the safety of police stations and shops in the CBD looted, President Thabo Mbeki announced that a panel had been set up to look into the attacks.
Fraud suspect J Arthur Brown was allegedly raped in the back of a police van last week, the Sunday Times reported. Brown’s attorney, William Booth, said the former Fidentia boss — accused of theft and fraud involving hundreds of millions of rands — suffered an ”extremely humiliating” sexual assault.
One man has been shot dead and two injured in Tembisa, where the latest xenophobic attacks have occurred, police said on Saturday as a protest march in central Johannesburg drew attention to the week’s violence that has already gripped Alexandra and Diepsloot in Gauteng.
United States pop group the Backstreet Boys will be performing in Sun City’s Superbowl at the POSI+IVE festival on June 14 and 15, the resort announced on Friday. The band members — Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and AJ McLean — are back together after taking a break from 2002 to 2005.
Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said on Friday that those responsible for continuous xenophobic attacks in Gauteng townships will be ”severely dealt with”. He was responding to the violence in Alexandra and Diepsloot that erupted in the past week, in which three people were killed and dozens injured.
eThekwini municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe has likened the international Blue Flag scheme to an ”apartheid” system that creates separate beaches, the Mercury newspaper reported on Friday. Blue Flags are part of an international beach-quality accreditation scheme.