President Thabo Mbeki on Monday reiterated his call for an immediate end to attacks on foreign nationals in Gauteng, which have left 22 people dead and up to 10Â 000 seeking refuge in shelters. ”Citizens from other countries on the African continent and beyond are as human as we are and deserve to be treated with respect,” the president.
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.
Two weeks after the start of the xenophobic attacks in Gauteng, the government and police are still at a loss on how to handle the escalating violence. "The attacks keep on taking us by surprise. When we think the situation is under control something erupts somewhere else," an official from the Department of Home Affairs told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> on Monday.
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.
The death of two Comrades Marathon runners last year could be a message from God that he was displeased with running the race on a Sunday, a Christian runner has suggested. Hansie Louw said in a statement at the weekend that he was asking all Christians to withdraw from the race.
Five people were killed and 50 were injured on Sunday when xenophobic attacks spread to Cleveland, Johannesburg police said. Spokesperson Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht said the violence started at about 1am. Foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, were attacked at the Cleveland informal settlement.
About a hundred members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and other organisations picketed the gates of Parliament in Cape Town on Saturday morning to protest against rising food prices and call for freedom in Zimbabwe. The event was to have been a march through the city.
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.
The spate of xenophobic violence in Alexandra has to be contained or it will cause problems in the future, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said on Friday after visiting the troubled township. Meanwhile, the Gauteng African National Congress has compared the xenophobia that fuelled this week’s attacks to the racism of apartheid.
Think of the suffering After all the good things we achieved as South Africans with the help of countries such as Zimbabwe during our apartheid struggle, is this the way we thank our fellow brothers and sisters? By burning them and attacking them while we know that they are suffering in their countries? I am […]
Dillon Davie speaks to Isak Roux, who is in town for the premiere performance of his <i>Coming Home</i> cantata at the Johannesburg City Hall.
In 2003 the South African Cabinet approved the use of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in the public sector and in early 2004 the programme started. Now in its fifth year, government often claims that it is the "largest treatment programme in the world".
”To be quite honest, trains at one stage were unreliable,” says Leon Vender, settling back into the plush seats of the new Business Express, a spanking new train service launched last week. While other commuters are battling the morning hell-run between Johannesburg and Pretoria, these commuters are sipping coffee and taking in the view.
A special task team will investigate the cause of the recent xenophobic attacks in Alexandra and elsewhere in the country, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. The team will make recommendations about steps required to prevent a recurrence of this ”negative tendency”, he told a media briefing.
Johannesburg townships Alexandra and Diepsloot were tense on Thursday morning in the wake of xenophobic violence that has killed a number of people since the weekend, police said. Captain Louise Reed said one man was injured in a suspected mob attack in Diepsloot on Wednesday evening.
In celebration of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday this year, youth parliaments will be held across the country, it was announced at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Speaking at the announcement was NMCF chief executive Sibongile Mkhabela and the former president’s daughter, Zinzi, who is a trustee of the fund.
Three teenagers, including a 14-year-old boy, were shot and stabbed as violence flared up again in Alexandra on Tuesday night, Johannesburg police said on Wednesday. Constable Neria Malefetse said the police arrested another five people, bringing the total number of arrests related to suspected xenophobic attacks to 66.
”I want to go home.” This is the appeal of a Zimbabwean woman who fought to prevent her little sister from being raped during xenophobic attacks on Monday night. Willet Sibanda, who also has an eight-year-old daughter, received blankets and clothes at the Alexandra police station on Tuesday afternoon.
Xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, are against the freedom and democracy that was fought for in South Africa, political organisations on Tuesday. African National Congress spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso said: ”Such acts can only take society backwards.”
Police were monitoring the situation in Alexandra on Monday following a suspected xenophobic attack that left two people dead and 40 injured, Gauteng police said. Constable Neria Malefetse said security had been tightened and units, including the public-order police unit, were helping to monitor the situation.
Gauteng commuter bus operators have received some outstanding subsidy payments but are still owed a substantial amount, their association said on Monday. ”All of them got payments from the Gauteng transport department at the weekend but not all were payments in full,” said South African Bus Operators’ Association executive manager Eric Cornelius.
South African stocks pulled back from modest gains achieved in early deals to trade flat at noon on Monday, as traders struggled to find a clear-cut path. At midday, the JSE’s broader all-share index was neither here nor there (+0,06%) at 32 154,700. Resources were up 0,20%, while the gold- and platinum-mining indices added 0,53% and 0,22% respectively.
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The Scorpions must be disbanded because they are a counter-revolutionary force out to destroy African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma and destabilise the party, the Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans’ Association (MKVA) said on Saturday.
You would expect Sello Maduma, South Africa’s fencing hope at the Olympics, to be at his happiest. But the 21-year-old athlete is a worried man. He is already looking beyond the Olympics and what he sees is bleak. ”I’m worried about life after the Olympics,” he says.
Allegations that the Gauteng Transport Department (Gautrans) owed commuter bus operators payments as far back as June 2007, were untrue, the department said on Thursday. ”Hence, the department strongly condemns any attempts aimed at causing uncertainty and divisions within the bus industry.”
Although crime levels were lower, most South Africans thought crime was on the increase and had lower confidence in the police, said a survey by the Institute for Security Studies. ”Since 1998 house breaking and burglary has been the most common crimes that South Africans report,” said researcher Antoinette Louw.
Salaries should increase on average by about 11,8% in 2008, an employment report released on Thursday shows. ”Higher inflation makes for high salary increases,” said economist Mike Schussler, who compiled the report for the United Association of South Africa trade union.
The real reason for the suspension of National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Vusi Pikoli related to a criminal probe into police chief Jackie Selebi, Pikoli’s lawyers said on Wednesday. ”It was to put a spoke in the wheels of the investigation and prosecution of the police National Commissioner, Mr Jackie Selebi,” they said.
The non-payment of subsidies by the Gauteng transport department to bus operators could cost thousands of employees their jobs and affect 300Â 000 commuters, trade union Solidarity said on Wednesday. In a statement, the union said the jobs of approximately 2Â 000 employees may be threatened.
Gold Fields’ South Deep mine remained closed on Monday ahead of a meeting between the company and the Gauteng mines safety inspector to determine whether conditions were safe enough for operations to continue. Nine people died at the company’s South Deep mine last Thursday.
When was the last time you heard from Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff, Northern Cape’s Dipuo Peters or even KwaZulu-Natal’s S’bu Ndebele? I reckon not lately. It may be true that some, such as Marshoff and Peters, have always had a low public profile anyway. But Shilowa and Ndebele?