A 30-year-old man is in a critical condition after falling down an elevator shaft from the 10th floor of a building in Pretoria on Thursday.
The businessman at the centre of the controversy surrounding an alleged R500 000 cash donation to the South African Communist Party (SACP) demanded on Thursday that the police ”get a move on” with the investigation into what happened to the money.
Tensions that triggered a backlash against foreigners last month are likely to simmer for years as South Africa’s poor domestic skills base forces it to rely on migrant labour.
Reintegration of displaced xenophobia victims into the communities where they come from is the government’s priority, Cabinet ministers and provincial politicians said on Wednesday.
About 142 court cases linked to xenophobic violence have been opened countrywide, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Tlali Tlali said 102 of these were in Gauteng. Provincial police liaison officers approached said none of the 142 cases had reached the conviction stage yet.
Lawyers for Human Rights, the organisation opposing the relocation of foreigners displaced by Xenophobic violence to City Deep in Johannesburg, will return to court on Friday. The Johannesburg High Court granted an urgent interdict on Monday preventing the relocation of the foreigners to City Deep for security reasons.
No date has yet been fixed for the Judicial Services Commission’s (JSC) meeting to consider new allegations against Cape Judge President John Hlophe, the JSC’s secretary said late on Monday. ”Right now they are still trying to find a date,” said commission secretary Vuyelwa Masangwana.
The Johannesburg High Court has granted an urgent interdict preventing the relocation of foreigners displaced by xenophobic attacks who are being accommodated at the city’s Cleveland and Jeppe police stations, Lawyers for Human Rights said on Monday.
Two striking municipal workers were wounded when security guards fired shots in Kempton Park on Monday, Ekurhuleni metro police said. Inspector Veli Nhlapo said the two were wounded when the Red Ants (a private security firm) opened fire on the striking workers. ”One was shot in the stomach and the other one in the hand. A case of attempted murder has been opened,” he said.
The relocation process of displaced foreign nationals to temporary shelters around Johannesburg will continue, despite complaints by some residents, a government official said on Monday. ”This is a temporary measure that will not impact negatively on the areas where foreign nationals are staying,” spokesperson for the Gauteng government Thabo Masebe said.
Cape Town Judge President John Hlophe must step down, political parties said on Sunday. Hlophe is accused of attempting to influence the Constitutional Court’s decision over search-and-seizure raids carried out by the Scorpions on properties of Jacob Zuma and French arms manufacturing giant Thint.
South African authorities on Sunday began transferring busloads of immigrants who have been sheltering in police stations from a wave of xenophobic attacks to organised tent camps, officials said. A total of 10 camps are due to be built in the next few weeks to house up to 10Â 000 foreign nationals who have been forced out of their homes.
Authorities began setting up tents at displacement sites in Johannesburg on Saturday to shelter some of the thousands of foreigners who fled a recent wave of xenophobic attacks. The death toll from the attacks across South Africa has risen to 62, with 670 injured, said national police spokesperson Sally de Beer.
Anti-immigrant violence in South Africa has killed 62 people and wounded 670 this month, police said on Saturday, raising an earlier toll of 56 dead after several victims died in hospital. ”In total, at 6am on Thursday morning, we had 62 dead people and 670 injured,” national police spokesperson Sally de Beer said after the violence that started two weeks ago subsided.
Cape Judge President John Hlophe has been accused of attempting to influence the Constitutional Court’s decision over search-and-seizure raids carried out by the Scorpions on properties of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and French arms manufacturing giant Thint.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and other youth bodies on Friday launched a campaign against xenophobia following the recent attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa. Briefing the media in Johannesburg, ANCYL president Julius Malema extended his apology and assured foreigners they were welcome in the country.
A life without foreigners? I woke and switched on the radio for the early morning news. I heard our foreign neighbours have gone back to their African countries. Good news, I said, now there will be peace. I went to the bathroom for a shower to find there was no hot water. I needed a […]
The retail price of petrol will increase by 50 cents a litre (c/l) on Wednesday next week, according to a statement from the Department of Minerals and Energy on Friday. This follows the 55c/l increase last month. The price of unleaded petrol in Gauteng thereby increases to R9,96 a litre, and to R9,72 at the coast.
German artist Hans Winkler has brought his site-specific interventions to the Jo’burg streets, writes Anthea Buys.
In a series of three ATM bombings in less than half a day in Gauteng, gangs of robbers on Friday morning made off with undisclosed sums of cash. In Strijdompark in Randburg, a Standard Bank ATM was blown up at the Motor City Centre, Gauteng police said. ATMs in Atteridgeville and Orange Farm were also targeted.
A complaint against the Daily Sun‘s reporting on the recent xenophobic attacks in Gauteng was submitted to the press ombudsman and the South African Human Rights Commission on Thursday. One of the major issues was the use of the term ”aliens” for immigrants by the newspaper.
The government has now back-pedalled on its initial claim that a "third force" was behind the recent wave of attacks on foreigners.
On a vast rubbish-strewn field in a mining area east of Johannesburg, hundreds of destitute Africans who have fled their makeshift homes in nearby slums shiver in the morning cold. The land, covered in white tents donated by aid groups, resembles the all-too-familiar refugee camps seen across this violence-hit continent.
Xenophobic violence against foreign nationals has been brought under control, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Monday. ”I do believe the situation is under control … the violence has subsided,” he said at a briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria following an inter-governmental task team meeting with President Thabo Mbeki.
The South African government came under pressure on Monday to deal with the aftermath of deadly anti-foreigner violence that has displaced an estimated 35Â 000 people. As thousands headed for the borders, a growing humanitarian crisis was developing domestically with crowds of foreigners sheltering at police stations.
The National Association of Democratic Lawyers called on the government on Monday to appoint a commission of inquiry into the xenophobic violence and offer financial relief to victims. The organisation added that the state should ”offer structural, financial, psychological and any other appropriate relief to all the victims of this violence”.
The government should appoint a commission of inquiry to probe the xenophobic attacks that have claimed at least 50 lives and left thousands of people homeless, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) said on Sunday. UDM president Bantu Holomisa said there was a need for a transparent inquiry that would analyse the attacks and remove suspicions that they were ”deliberate and orchestrated”.
President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday called a wave of deadly attacks on migrants an ”absolute disgrace” and said his government would take all measures to bring those responsible to justice. Meanwhile, African National Congress president Jacob Zuma said all people in South Africa should be tolerant of one another.
There is a free concert in Johannesburg on Sunday. It is Africa Day and leading artists from across the continent will perform live.
Thousands of people marched through Johannesburg on Saturday, calling for an end to the violence that has killed at least 50 African migrants and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. People in Hillbrow, home to many African immigrants, cheered the march, which was organised by churches and labour unions.
South Africa’s security chief on Friday accused rightwingers linked to the former apartheid government of fanning xenophobic violence that has spread to Cape Town, the second largest city and tourist centre. At least 42 people have been killed and thousands driven from their homes in 12 days of attacks.
Extreme xenophobic violence has left thousands of people in Johannesburg homeless, their houses demolished and burned. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> speaks to a Congolese father who returns to his family home, which was plundered by an angry mob just more than a week ago.