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/ 25 May 2008

Absent Mbeki criticised over violence

South African President Thabo Mbeki, already under fire for perceived policy failings that caused an anti-immigrant backlash in his country, now faces questions about his handling of the crisis. The head of state is yet to visit the worst affected areas of Johannesburg after two weeks of violence against foreigners.

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/ 24 May 2008

SA knew of xenophobia threat, says Kasrils

South Africa’s government admitted on Friday it was aware of the potential of anti-immigrant sentiment to explode into violence. ”Of course we were aware there was something brewing. It is one thing to know there is a social problem and another thing to know when that outburst will occur,” said Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils.

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/ 22 May 2008

SAHRC: Increase in people living in poverty

More people across all race groups in South Africa are living in relative poverty, a report released by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said. The number of white South Africans living in relative poverty has doubled, from 2% to 3,9% since 1997, the number of black South Africans has increased from 50,3% to 57,2%, the commission’s report found.

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/ 22 May 2008

Racism on the increase, says rights commission

Blatant racism appears to be on the increase in South Africa, with legislation doing too little to eliminate it, a South African Human Rights Commission report released on Thursday said. The Human Rights Development Report said racist incidents, like a controversial video shot at the University of Free State, reminded the country of the danger of regression.