Mandebvhu Talks “Zimbabwe”…

State security agents have reportedly been visiting the Warren Hills cemetery in Harare, in a bid to locate Tonderai Ndira’s unmarked grave. The murdered MDC activist was buried last Sunday. He was abducted from his Mabvuku home on the 14th May and his decomposing body was found dumped at a farm in Goromonzi last week and taken to Parirenyatwa hospital mortuary. Since the formation of the MDC, the hugely influential activist was arrested 35 times by the regime. His brother Cosmos told us that state agents had made several visits to the graveyard insisting that municipal gravediggers pinpoint his grave. The gravediggers apparently refused to be drawn into this highly charged political issue and have refused to co-operate. When Cosmos visited his young brother’s grave on Thursday, intending to put a marker on it, concerned municipal workers told him of the visits by security agents. They also advised him not to leave the marker.

It’s believed the regime has an idea of where the grave is, but there are several graves in the vicinity that are also not marked out, making it impossible to identify Tonderai’s grave. The elder Ndira said municipal workers had became suspicious when the smartly dressed state agents told them they wanted to place a tombstone on Tonderai’s grave and needed to be shown where it was. “In our culture, you wait for a year before you place a tombstone and my brother has only been buried there for less than a week. I’m reliably informed they want to dig up his grave and take his body elsewhere to be dumped because they want to get rid of evidence. In fact I’m told state agents are furious that the murdered MDC activists are being buried there,” Cosmos said.

Last week, three other MDC activists who were abducted are killed early this month on their way to Murehwa were buried at the same cemetery. A very angry Cosmos said authorities should let his brother and friends rest in peace, saying the activists were central figures in the pro-democracy movement in Harare. Cosmos said his brother was highly respected, greatly loved and admired. The elder Ndira said security agents kept a close eye on his brother: ‘His home in Mabvuku was like a remand prison - there was someone watching him every minute. Now he’s dead but the regime won’t let him rest even in death. Their oppression extends even in death. He cared profoundly about issues of social and political justice, and of course was deeply committed to finding a resolution that would allow all people in Zimbabwe to live in peace with each other.’

(Source)

ShareThis

Diplomatic ties between Zimbabwe and the United States came under further strain today when authorities in Harare accused Washington’s envoy to South Africa of sneaking into the country. While US officials in both Harare and Pretoria denied the ambassador had made such a journey yesterday and said it appeared to be a case of mistaken identity, Zimbabwe’s state media said he had crossed over via the border with Botswana on “an undisclosed mission”. In a front-page story, the Herald newspaper said the “United States ambassador to South Africa Patrick Kelly Diskin sneaked into Zimbabwe through Plumtree border post yesterday on an as yet undisclosed mission. Sources at the border said Diskin indicated he was visiting US ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee in Harare over confidential matters and stated he would be in the country for 14 days.” The newspaper then printed the number of Diskin’s US diplomatic passport and the car registration number. An unnamed government official said he was “interested” in discovering the reason for the visit. “Whilst is is normal for ambassadors to visit each other, we find the timing and the route used very odd,” he told the paper.

However the US embassy in Pretoria dismissed the report and said the Herald had not even got the name of the ambassador right. “Our ambassador is Eric Bost. He did not go to Zimbabwe yesterday,” an embassy spokeswoman told AFP. An official at the US embassy in Harare meanwhile said the man named by the Herald worked for the State Department’s United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “The Patrick Diskin we know is a food for peace officer with USAID in South Africa. He is not an ambassador,” he said. “We are checking with USAID whether Diskin was coming to Zimbabwe to meet the ambassador.” The episode comes days after Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe threatened to expel McGee whom he accused of meddling in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs. “I am told he (McGee) says he fought in Vietnam,” Mugabe said on Sunday in a keynote speech at the launch of his campaign for a presidential election run-off against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai next month. “Fighting in Vietnam does not give him the right to interfere in our domestic affairs. Tall as he is, if he continues doing that, I will kick him out. I am just waiting to see if he makes one more step wrong, He will get out. This is Zimbabwe, it is not an extension of America.” Relations between the United States and Zimbabwe have been tense ever since Washington imposed sanctions against Mugabe and his inner circle after he allegedly rigged his 2002 re-election.

(Source)

ShareThis

More than 50 people had been killed in political violence since Zimbabwe’s disputed March 29 poll and 25000 had fled their homes, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday. Tsvangirai’s MDC says President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party has launched a violent campaign against its supporters since the elections in a bid to avoid another defeat next month. The ruling party denies the charge, and in turn blames the opposition for the violence. “Over 50 Zimbabweans have been killed in the past six weeks. More than 25000 people have been displaced. I’ve been saddened that Zimbabweans are willing to shed the blood of other Zimbabweans over political differences,” Tsvangirai said in Harare. “We are proceeding to compile the names of those who’ve committed the crimes. We will approach the attorney-general to do something about it. I don’t believe that anyone who has murdered someone should be forgiven, it is a criminal act to murder someone.” The MDC says police have taken a partisan stance in dealing with political violence, taking sides with ZANU PF supporters.

In an apparent show of support for Mugabe yesterday, Zimbabwe’s police chief Augustine Chihuri said the force had a duty to defend the country from what he called a threat from foreign powers and their local puppets. Mugabe often accuses the MDC of being in thrall to former colonial power Britain and other western governments he says want to oust him. “The nation is facing a myriad of challenges and machinations by external forces and their internal sympathisers, who I normally call puppets,” Chihuri said. “Its very existence and survival is threatened by these puppets and their handlers,” he said at a senior police ceremony in Harare. Echoing Mugabe’s theme for the runoff, Chihuri said Zimbabweans had to be clear in their understanding “of what 100% empowerment and total independence means. It means revamping and overhauling the system in the manufacturing and mining sectors, as done in the agricultural sector.” This alluded to seizures of white-owned farms and a similar drive to nationalise foreign-owned mines and other businesses. He also accused businesses of lifting prices of goods and services to force a change of government. Official figures showed Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the election, but failed to garner enough votes to avoid a runoff, which has been set for June 27.

(Source)

ShareThis

A truck carrying 60 000 copies of the most popular Zimbabwean newspaper has been burned out. The driver, Christmas Ramabulana, a South African, and a distribution assistant, Tapfumaneyi Kancheta, a Zimbabwean, were admitted to hospital after the attack. The newspaper, the Zimbabwean on Sunday, was printed in South Africa and the truck crossed the border at Beit Bridge on Saturday. In a press release from the United Kingdom, editor Wilf Mbanga said the truck and its contents were set alight on a quiet road off the highway about 200km from Beit Bridge. The weekly The Zimbabwean has been on the streets since 2005, but its Sunday sister publication was not launched until February. Since the March 29 elections, won by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the two newspapers have been carrying the most detailed reports about victims of the political violence.

They have also published harrowing photographs of some of the injuries. Many of those treated in hospitals here have identified their attackers, and the two newspapers publish the names of alleged ZANU PF perpetrators in a column headlined Roll of Shame. The Zimbabwean far outsells any of its weekly competitors, and its sales dwarf the circulation of the daily newspapers, which are state-owned and controlled. Mbanga said he had learnt of the attack when the two injured men contacted the company’s offices here. An ambulance was sent to pick them up. Mbanga said Emmerson Mnangagwa, often tipped as Robert Mugabe’s successor, had recently said The Zimbabwean was to blame for ZANU PF’s electoral defeat. The UN here said two weeks ago the overwhelming majority of people killed, injured or displaced in the violence were MDC supporters.

(Source)

ShareThis

ZNU 122 released. In today’s programme I look at apparent call to arms by Mugabe, a warning that the country is teetering on the edge of civil war, the return to the ZANU PF fold of Dumiso Dabengwa, the brutal killing of a heavily pregnant MDC supporter, the threat of war by the army and the realigning of new ranks in the ZRP.

You can hear the programme using the multiplayer in the right hand sidebar of The Bearded Man blog. The programme is also available for download, should you wish, from here.

I noted yesterday afternoon, that the internet response was terribly slow. So if the programmes take a while to begin to play - sorry!

As usual, all historical programmes are available to play from my Odeo page, should you so wish.

Take care.

‘debvhu

ShareThis

Shepherd Jani, the MDC losing Senatorial candidate of Murewa North ward 10 has been found dead. His body was dumped in Goromonzi Mountains. Sheperd jani was beaten and kidnapped around 1100 hrs on Thursday 22 May 2008 at his home by 4 suspected CIO agents. The men were driving a blue twin cab truck registration number AAA 9248. He was abducted in full view of colleagues from the party who tried without success to rescue him but backed off when the thugs pulled out guns and threatened to shoot before disappearing with Jani in the car. News of his death reached Harare today.

Goromonzi district has been turned into a death chamber by ZANU PF in the terror campaign. In less than a week three bodies of Cain Nyeve, Godfrey Kauzani and Tonderai have been found dumped in the same area. Shepherd Jani, the MDC losing Senatorial candidate of Murewa North ward 10 has been found dead. His body was dumped in Goromonzi Mountains. Sheperd jani was beaten and kidnapped around 1100 hrs on Thursday 22 May 2008 at his home by 4 suspected CIO agents. The men were driving a blue twin cab truck registration number AAA 9248. He was abducted in full view of colleagues from the party who tried without success to rescue him but backed off when the thugs pulled out guns and threatened to shoot before disappearing with Jani in the car. News of his death reached Harare today.

Goromonzi district has been turned into a death chamber by Zanu PF in the terror campaign. In less than a week three bodies of Cain Nyeve, Godfrey Kauzani and Tonderai have been found dumped in the same area.

(Source)

ShareThis

Twelve suspected MDC-T thugs were arrested in Mutare yesterday after they were found in possession of axes, chain blades and sjamboks they were allegedly using to commit various acts of violence as they moved around in a pick-up truck belonging to the opposition party.

The arrests come just 24 hours before the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission today meets both ZANU PF and MDC-T to examine how best the parties could peacefully resolve their differences ahead of the June 27 presidential election run-off.

ZEC chairperson Justice George Chiweshe and Acting Attorney-General Justice Bharat Patel yesterday condemned violence. Justice Chiweshe said violence would not create a conducive atmosphere for a free and fair election while Justice Patel has urged the courts to deal with cases of political violence effectively and expeditiously. The weapons allegedly used to commit acts of violence across the country were found hidden under the driver’s seat and police have since impounded the vehicle - an Isuzu pick-up truck with an MDC logo - that was being used by the suspects. The suspects, who hail from different parts of the country as far apart as Chipinge, Harare, Masvingo and Chinhoyi, were arrested after their intended victim escaped and alerted the police at Mutasa Central Police Station. Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka said the police reacted swiftly to the tip-off and impounded the vehicle along Bonda Mission Road.

“We are reliably informed that these perpetrators are using marked or unmarked vehicles to terrorise people in the communities. They would go and perpetrate the acts of violence and retreat to their hidden bases, which we are still to establish,” Chief Supt Mandipaka said. Most of the suspects revealed that they were MDC-T polling agents in the Mutasa area during the March 29 harmonised elections. Chief Supt Mandipaka said in most acts of violence reported, MDC-T thugs disguised themselves as ZANU PF supporters by wearing the party’s regalia and beating people to taint the party’s name.

He said police have committed themselves to impounding all the vehicles that are being used in these activities. “We are geared to thwart their hidden operating bases because we have noted that these perpetrators do not hail from one village and we strongly understand that they are carrying out these activities for payment.” The suspects were still detained at Mutasa Central Police Station by yesterday. The arrests come at a time when ZANU PF and the MDC-T are expected to hold talks in Harare today under the multi-party liaison committee facilitated by the ZEC as part of preparations for the presidential election run-off set for June 27.

Today’s talks - the first under the multi-party liaison committee after the March 29 joint presidential, parliamentary and council elections - will discuss problems encountered by the parties so far in their campaigns for the run-off. ZEC deputy director of public relations Mr Tendayi Pamire in an interview yesterday confirmed the meeting would take place today. “The multi-party liaison committee is meeting tomorrow (today). We have invited only ZANU PF and MDC-T because these are the only parties taking part in the run-off.

“The parties are expected to discuss the problems they are facing so far in their campaigns for the presidential run-off,” Mr Pamire said. Commissioner Mrs Sarah Kachingwe will chair the meeting. Mr Pamire said the multi-party liaison committee would carry out a post-mortem of the March 29 elections once the run-off is complete. He said they could not do so soon after the March polls because the electoral process would only be complete after the run-off. Mr Pamire said ZEC has already contacted both parties for today’s meeting and they expressed their willingness to attend. The meeting is also expected to look at how best the contesting parties should resolve their differences peacefully. Justice Chiweshe urged ZANU PF and MDC-T to campaign peacefully, saying violence would not create a conducive environment for a free and fair poll while Justice Patel agitated for co-ordinated efforts in order to dispose cases of violence as effectively and expeditiously as possible,

“The commission deplores politically motivated violence from any quarter as this does not assist the commission in creating an environment conducive for free and fair elections. So we are urging political parties to urge their supporters to desist from violence,” said Justice Chiweshe. In a statement yesterday, Justice Patel said the seriousness of offences of violence necessitated prompt and determined responses to ensure that the cases were speedily dealt with.

“In this regard, appropriate measures have been put in place to ensure that public prosecutors and the magistracy co-ordinate their efforts in order to dispose these cases as effectively and expeditiously as is possible,” Justice Patel said. He implored prosecutors and magistrates to deal with the cases firmly and fairly.

“The prosecutors handling these matters have been directed to deal firmly but fairly with each case, without regard to the political affiliation of the offenders.”

Justice Patel noted that cases of political violence were declining throughout the country. “From the feedback received by the Attorney General’s Office, it would appear that the scale and occurrence of public violence has begun to abate throughout the country. “In any event, the office intends to monitor the situation on a regular basis and to take decisive action as and when it becomes necessary.”

Justice Patel said since May 18, 2008, 80 cases of violence were reported in six provinces excluding Matabeleland and Midlands.

“The alleged offences cover a wide range of acts of public violence, including abduction, assault, malicious damage to property, robbery and offensive utterances. There is also one case of murder and two cases of attempted murder.”

He said according to the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the offences were being attributed to both MDC-T and ZANU PF.

(Source)

ShareThis

Two more lawmakers from Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party have been arrested on charges of incitement, the party and a relative said on Wednesday. Ian Kay, one of only two white members of parliament, and Amos Chibaya were currently in police custody and had yet to appear in court. “He was arrested yesterday (Tuesday) and they are charging him for all the violence which has broken out in Mashonaland East province,” Kay’s wife Kerry told AFP. “He is due to appear in court today in Marondera.” MDC spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said Chibaya, who is a lawmaker for Mkoba in the Gweru region, was detained on Wednesday morning on charges of trying to stir up revolt in police ranks. “He was arrested this morning for inciting junior officers to rebel against their seniors,” he told AFP. “The police said he made the remarks at a rally,” he said without disclosing where the rally was held. There was no immediate reaction to either arrest from the police. On May 12, police also arrested MDC lawmaker Heya Shoko on public violence charges. The MDC won control of parliament from President Robert Mugabe’s long-ruling ZANU PF party at elections on March 29. Mugabe was also beaten into second place in a simultaneous presidential election and must now do battle with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a run-off ballot on June 27.

(Source)

ShareThis

Transcript of media briefing by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs May 20 2008

Questions & Answers

Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, have any foreign countries expressed concern about the safety of their citizens in South Africa?

Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, how do you respond to criticism that the violence in South Africa is linked to President Mbeki’s position on Zimbabwe?

Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, given South Africa’s social and economic challenges, has it not been irresponsible to allow border control to almost completely break down, especially on the Zimbabwe border?

Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, how is it that the government finds itself surprised by what is happening when there were incidents of such phenomena for some time now?

Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, seeing that the crisis in Zimbabwe is now spilling beyond its borders, do you still maintain that this is an internal matter?

Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, there is a school of thought is that some of this violence has been exported from Zimbabwe so that some violence in South Africa will detract from what is happening in Zimbabwe?

Question: Deputy Minister Pahad, how have these incidents dented South Africa’s image two years before the 2010 Soccer World Cup?

Answer: It is clear that this issue - and it is obvious in the South Africa media - has been reflected in reported internationally. It is simply reported in both the South African media and international media as attacks simply against foreigners without an attempt to contextualize or analyse the root causes of this phenomenon. I hope we will have long dealt with this by 2010.

Let me clearly state, these attacks in South Africa are not unique to South Africa and I think that many people abroad are fully conscious, that even in their own societies, that given globalization and other challenges, they have also experienced such phenomena. That is why in the last few years you have seen phenomena such as neo-facist parties coming to the fore in Europe. In Europe there are arguments that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs, etc, similar arguments are being used to explain what is happening in South Africa. Foreigners are aware that xenophobic phenomena are not unique to South Africa.

I think it is up to us to decisively deal with what we have experienced and I think the President has clearly indicated parameters around which we must deal with this matter and all political formations have begun to deal with this. So have church, civil society and other groups. The political formation branch structures have also begun to deal with this.

It is my view that until we receive a full report about what are the causes - criminal or otherwise - that have exploited a situation of concern for some of our people that foreigners are a scourge because they are taking away jobs and economic opportunities - this is a wrong perception because in many instances it is based on ignorance and provocation from many forces. Whether it is related to Zimbabwe or other political forces in South Africa or other agendas - it is difficult for me to tell until we have the report from the inter-departmental committee and especially the police and other security services. 200 people have been arrested. One hopes that this will open up the space to understand their motivations. That the IFP and ANC have met is an important development between the two political formations to assess involvement by their parties. The Secretary-General of the ANC has spoken on this matter and I think we agree with his view that we cannot come to any conclusions until we have more substantiated information.

We are in touch with all countries whose citizens have been affected. I think that the countries are aware that indeed, large sectors of our population, have condemned these attacks and they are convinced that it is not government policy, nor indeed policies maintained by the majority in our society. We will continue to be in touch with the governments and see how we can work together to integrate those who are in South Africa in a healthier way.

I do not know whether we have not been responsible in taking care of border control. Since 1994 we removed the electric fences separating South Africa from our neighbours because no democratic South Africa could maintain electric wire fencing on our borders with our neighbours because it would go against the very value systems we believe it. Our borders are very porous. The border control team has tried to see how we can tighten up control.

I want to stress, there is a tendency to view everyone coming across our borders as Zimbabwean - there are many other African citizens coming across our borders - there are also many coming from China, India, Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh - there is a totality of problems.

My own view is that in Africa - and especially SADC - the best way in which to deal with this matter would be to fastrack regional integration of which one of the elements is the free movement of people, to ensure that we develop a region - as we develop South Africa - so that South Africans view other countries as opportunities and we will therefore not just have people coming into South Africa.

In the end, if we fail to address this challenge of the development and integration of SADC, I do not think we will be able to stem the flow. You can have 1000s of troops on the border but you will not be able to stem the flow.

The Americans have one of the most expensive border control mechanisms with Mexico but they have not stopped the flow of Mexicans into the United States of America.

So the best way in which to deal with this will be the political and economic programme that will turn this tide of people coming into South Africa. It is not just the Zimbabwean illegal immigrants. There are many immigrants from Zimbabwe who are in South Africa legally and making a positive contribution to South African society.

Government was not taken by surprise by the possibility of these attacks. What has taken us by surprise is the extent and nature including the violence of what we have witnessed. It was not expected that the Mamelodi and Atteridgeville would lead to this. We tried to address the root causes but we were aware that criminal elements had exploited concerns and fears of the people.

You would not have thought that 14 years into our democracy we would suddenly experience such an explosion of attacks against foreigners when we have been trying through education and political processes to inform people about our vision of one Africa and an integrated Africa.

I am not sure, and this is linked to the question on the Zimbabwean situation, I think we would have to wait for the report - I think the most immediate task is to stop the violence, determine the perpetrators, begin a more intensified process of education linked to the broader economic strategy but we must stop this as soon as possible. South Africa is committed to helping other people in Africa, as they helped us. There are no political differences in what we have to do and I think that as the ruling party and government that we are committed, with the Alliance Partners, to take action against elements that will be found to have instigated and provoked the violence. I think this is why the President has commented so strongly through his statement that everything must be done to deal with this situation and he is awaiting his report. Once we have this report we will be able to move decisively against those who are responsible.

The only time that South Africa has experienced this form of violence was pre-1994 and we all know this was politically motivated violence. At that time when we talked of black-on-black violence we were regarded as being alarmist. Since then all reports have indicated that the black-on-black violence was not a spontaneous occurrence but was politically motivated. The symptoms are very much the same. We now await the report to determine whether we are experiencing the same phenomenon we experienced pre-1994.

Question: Deputy Minister, regarding the Chinese ship - does the South African government believe it is a healthy development for arms to be shipped to Zimbabwe in the current environment and what is your position on the call from Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a wider arms embargo against Zimbabwe?

Answer: Firstly, let me say we have a National Arms Control Committee in South Africa that has a clear mandate from Parliament and works very carefully in relation to South Africa’s export of arms. We were not even aware of this ship carrying arms until it was exposed. And while government was trying to deal with this matter - the line function Ministry was the Department of Finance because SARS falls within this ambit and SARS had to determine the contents of the ship. This was all emerging while we were in China, we discussed this matter and were given an undertaking that the ship would be recalled.

It is clear that any movement of arms by anyone could escalate the tensions and possible violence in Zimbabwe but it was not as if we were conniving, as has been suggested, to get these arms into Zimbabwe.

The media should now approach the Chinese Ambassador to ascertain details around this matter.

We have a very healthy approach to dealing with South Africa’s export of arms and we try to ensure that this a framework that is excepted by all other arms exporters. I am not sure if we are succeeding but I think ours is the only country with such stringent control measures on arms. Many other exporting countries do not have such regulations and legislation.

Regarding the arms embargo: this is a matter that Prime Minister Brown has called for and seeing as how the UK is the current President of the UN Security Council, I would suggest they take it through the processes and discuss this. South Africa is not exporting arms to Zimbabwe nor are 99% of the UN.

If we do everything possible to ensure the run-off proceeds smoothly, we deal with allegations of violence, create the conditions, by the time an arms embargo is imposed on Zimbabwe we may have a new situation in Zimbabwe. Let’s not be diverted by issues that will take a long time to implement.

Question: Deputy Minister, you just said that “It is clear that any movement of arms by anyone could escalate the tensions and possible violence in Zimbabwe,” so why is it that when South Africa had the choice to stop the arms coming through South Africa did we not do the right thing to stop this?

Answer: We did, the arms did not land in South Africa. There were different procedures that were being undertaken. You must remember that lots of goods intended for landlocked countries come through South Africa. South Africa does not check every consignment - this would be impossible. Therefore, sometimes, we are not able to determine what two countries have arranged between themselves. South Africa was caught in the middle. But generally, our own policy is not to a supplier of arms where there is the possibility or intention of violence. I do not even know what arms were on the ship.

We discussed this matter with the Chinese and were assured that the ship had been recalled.

Question: Deputy Minister, if another ship were to land tomorrow, what would South Africa do?

Answer: That is a hypothetical Question:. Let me say, rather than Answering that Question: - we must intensify all our efforts to create the conditions that would allow for the re-run to take place on 27 June 2008 and we will await the report of our retired generals who will present a report on the violence that is taking place. The President, as the Facilitator, will have to take action on any reports. The other Question: that is emerging is the safety of Mr Tsvangirai so that he can return to Zimbabwe to contest the elections. He must be confident that his security is guaranteed. Everybody has the responsibility to ensure that the Zimbabweans can go to the polls so that other challenges can be effectively addressed.

(Source)

ShareThis

No one in Cleveland squatter camp seemed to know the names of the five burned or bludgeoned bodies. They were referred to simply as Zimbabweans, though no one could even be sure they were that. It was enough that they were foreigners accused of taking jobs, houses and women - or of leading a crime wave - by the mobs that killed them and drove hundreds of others from their homes. About 50 people were taken to hospital with gunshot and stab wounds as the gangs smashed their way in to the dozen or so foreign-owned shops in Cleveland, in the south of Johannesburg. “It is unfortunate that people got killed,” said one of a group of young men lounging on a main street who gave his name only as PK. “But they had to go. They do not belong here taking jobs. Let them go back to Zimbabwe and solve their own problems instead of bringing them here. We have enough problems of our own.”

The surviving foreign residents of Cleveland have joined at least 10,000 other immigrants seeking refuge in police stations and churches as xenophobic murders, rapes and other violence spread across the city and its satellite townships on Monday. At least 22 people have been killed, including two men who it was reported had their throats cut in Tembisa township yesterday and others who have been burned alive, beaten to death or shot, in the worst violence to hit Johannesburg since the politically-driven killings of the final years of apartheid. In the city centre at the weekend, marauding gangs of men stopped people in the street or in minibus taxis to interrogate them about their origins. Those who did not speak an indigenous language were beaten up.

Some South Africans in the afflicted areas have taken to painting their names on their doors so they are not mistaken for foreigners although some of the mobs have also targeted South Africans speaking minority languages such as Shangaans and Venda. Much of the violence is driven by resentment of three million Zimbabweans who have fled the crisis in their own country in search of work. But the government’s critics say the attacks are also a result of its failure to deliver jobs and significantly better conditions for the mass of urban poor while a ruling elite has got rich - leaving black South Africans to compete with the flood of immigrants from across the continent for jobs and housing. Cleveland was a popular place for Zimbabweans to settle. Grace Muzenda arrived with her two young daughters three years ago. She left on Sunday.

“They surrounded my place and they were shouting for me to come out. I was crying and telling them I have my babies in here, they mustn’t hurt them. But they weren’t listening. They were making too much noise. I think some of them were drunk,” she said. “Then they set a fire to force me out. I thought they were going to kill me but they were laughing at the fire and dancing. A few of them hit me but I was able to run. They were shouting to me to go home and never come back. Everything is gone. What do I do? I can’t go back to Zimbabwe and I can’t stay here.” Yesterday, the police fought running battles with mobs armed with petrol bombs as the violence spread. Two schoolchildren were among four dead in Primrose squatter camp on the East Rand as large mobs of young men and some women armed themselves with iron bars, spears and clubs, known locally as knobkerries, to hunt foreigners and burn their homes.

Hundreds of Zimbabweans and Mozambicans gathered beside a main road just beyond the Makausi squatter camp there to watch helplessly as their shacks and possessions were destroyed. Not far away, in Reiger Park, the police recovered the body of a Malawian man who was chopped up and burned. Another man, who has still not been identified, was barely alive after a mob threw a burning mattress on to him. He appeared to have been beaten with a concrete pillar first. Two other people, one of them identified as Mozambican from the papers in his pocket, were killed there as scores of shacks were burned. One person was also killed in the badly crowded Alexandra township in Johannesburg on Monday, where the violence began a week ago with the murder of two immigrants. More than 1,000 people - Mozambicans, Malawians, Zimbabweans - are sheltering in Alexandra’s police station.

Over the weekend, the violence spread to the heart of Johannesburg, including poorer residential areas crowded with African immigrants. Street traders were beaten up on the streets and their goods stolen. Gangs went through blocks of flats banging on doors, identifying foreigners and ordering them to leave without their belongings, which were then looted. Many of the homeless headed for the Central Methodist Church which was also threatened by the mobs. The church’s bishop, Paul Veryn, said: “We consider that the situation is getting so serious that the police can no longer control it.” The police said they have arrested more than 200 people for violence, robbery and rape. Many of the foreigners are not surprised at what has been unleashed against them. Hostility to Africans from other parts of the continent has long been rife in South Africa but has escalated with the arrival of the Zimbabweans who are popular with local employers because many are well educated, speak good English and are seen as working harder than South Africans. Seven people were murdered in March, including a Somali, Zimbabweans and Pakistanis, in attacks near Pretoria. In January, two Somali shop owners were killed in the Eastern Cape. “They always hated us,” said Muzenda. “We thought this might happen.”

(Source)

ShareThis