Black South Africans attack Black Foreign Africans in mob violence

In black-ruled South Africa – where many millions of foreign black Africans migrated to since 1994 –  local black South Africans say they are increasingly ‘fed-up’ with “foreign blacks taking their jobs and their women’. Since 2008, there have been increasing outbreaks of xenophobic violence which have resulted in often very gruesome murders of foreign blacks. often in vicious mob-violence.

Due to migration from the rest of the continent, South Africa ‘s population has soared from 21-million to 51-million over the past twenty years: according to the government’s Statistics-South Africa agency.

Above: It  appears as if these organised attacks are again breaking out in May 2013 – it has already starting in the overcrowded townships around Vereeniging, such as Sebokeng and elsewhere. 

These are very well-organised ‘flashmob’ events in which black foreigner’s shops are targetted, looted and people chased out of the townships.

The latest attack occurred at Diepsloot near Johannesburg this past weekend and elsewhere in Gauteng province; in Mayfair Johannesburg: and in Boksburg:  Last year’s violence was equally ferocious, with black foreigners killed in xenophobic mob-violence in Pietermaritzburg on 25 June 2012, when Ali Mkhuluziza of Burundi and Aiwalie Saineti of Malawi were murdered in Mpumelelo township’s ‘France’ squatter camp. In 2012, at least  86 incidents of’xenophobia’ were recorded: including the gruesome triple-murders of a defenceless  Chinese shopkeeper Long Liang Chen 31, his young wife and baby girl in their shop in Warden, Free State on Sept 16 2012. The South African police hesitates to refer to such racist attacks against black foreigners as ‘xenophobia’, preferring to refer to such gruesome violence as ‘common crime’.

However – In the latest incidents in the Gauteng province’s most overcrowded townships such as Diepsloot and Sebokeng,  the black South African community held a meeting a month earlier to discuss strategies. People decided to chase out ‘all the black foreigners’. Now  the violence has flaring up in well-organised attacks against shops and spaza’s owned by foreign blacks.  The attacks are motivated both by greed for loot – but also by hatred towards the black foreigners. Reportedly,  the ‘flash-mobs’ are organised via cellphones.

At Diepsloot Johannesburg this past weekend, foreign shop owners in Diepsloot had fled to  a local car wash and were under guard by the SA police – following looting at their businesses on Sunday evening, May 26 2013.  An Ethiopian man was quoted by Eyewitness News as saying on Monday that owned a grocery shop in Extention One of the township -  but feared it would be targeted and was there so that police could protect him.

“It looks like separation,’ he told Eyewitness News. ” The people do not rob locally-owned shops but only want to rob shops owned by foreigners.”

Residents of Diepsloot said the killing of two Zimbabwean nationals and widespread looting of foreign shops on Sunday night were the result of frustrations over unemployment and poverty. The two Zimbabwean men were allegedly shot dead by a Somalian shopkeeper after he’d claimed they had tried to rob his spaza shop. Black South African residents reportedly responded to this shooting by damaging the Somalian’s shop and looting it overnight.

An eyewitness said after the shooting residents turned their anger to all thje foreigners living in the area and threatened to burn down their shops. “There were many people surrounding his shop. Others were screaming and shouting that they would burn the shop.” A small group of people gathered at the scene while police cleared the roads of burning tyres and rubbish from the protest. They were later dispersed by authorities.

The police’s Lungelo Dlamini said, “Members of our Tactical Response Team were on the scene and dispersed the crowd. We will monitor the situation and see what happens but the police will be in the area to make sure the place is safe.”

At the same time Diepsloot residents said on Monday xenophobia was still rife in their community. The informal settlement saw violent xenophobic attacks claim the lives of several foreign nationals in 2008. Five years after xenophobic violence claimed numerous lives in Diepsloot, resident Alpheas Daphazi said he still did not feel safe.
“They say go back home and remove Mugabe. What are you doing in our country? Why are taking our jobs? Why are you taking our women?” Daphazi was forced to move to Diepsloot in 2007 after violence in his country Zimbabwe became too much to handle. He told Eyewitness News in Johannesburg that foreigners in the community face a daily onslaught of insults from the community. With elections due to take place in Zimbabwe later this year, Daphazi said he would like to return home to cast his vote so he can escape the abuse of the Diepsloot community.

picture: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=658085207551361&set=a.178568022169751.48293.116298045063416&type=1&theater