Community | May 22, 2008 | 8 comments

Attacks on foreigners spread in S. Africa, immigrants fight back

source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0522/p07s02-woaf.html

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South Africa's violence against foreigners took a turn for the worse on Wednesday as beleaguered foreign immigrants organized themselves to fight back.

In the Johannesburg township of Tshepisong, Mozambicans and Zimbabwean immigrants fled from gangs of South African residents, while immigrants in other neighborhoods threatened to resist attacks.

"If it means I have to fight back to protect my wife and children and property, I will," a Zimbabwean immigrant named Madalala Ndlovu told the Pretoria Times. "If the police can't stop these thugs, then I will. I'll kill them if I have to."

With community leaders urging against an escalation of violence, the South African government announced that it would start deploying military fixed-wing aircraft and armed personnel carriers to back up police, as the violence entered its 10th day.

"The organization of foreigners is to be expected, given the police's extreme difficulty in getting the violence under control," says Frans Kronje, deputy chairman of the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), a liberal think tank in Johannesburg.

"Foreigners have three options," says Mr. Kronje. "To go back to Zimbabwe, which is not a nicer option than what they already face here. To get into one of the informal camps around police stations, churches, and community centers, which are already estimated to have 13,000 displaced people in the Johannesburg area alone. Or they can organize to defend themselves, which then makes it much more difficult for the police to control."
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8 comments // Attacks on foreigners spread in S. Africa, immigrants fight back

  • khromadjo
    • 0
      khromadjo  

    • Mandela didn't spend 27 years in prison, advocating the concept of ubuntu "humanity", just to have his countrymen be as vindictive as their previous apartheid oppressors. Unfortunately, much of the continent, as well as around the world, is mired in discord.

      By the way, Wessagusset---if overpopulation is the problem, what do you suggest we do--thin out the masses?

      The fact is that religious and ethnic differences cause more turmoil than overpopulation. Overpopulation breeds social stratification. But wars aren't fought over having too many abandoned children. They're fought because everybody thinks that they're right, and if someone looks or believes differently than them, they are unworthy of respect, or in many cases, the right to live.

    • 3 years ago
  • Wessagusset_Oracle
  • UWAZell
    • 0
      UWAZell  

    • You would think that given their past that South Africans would be at the forefront of equal treatment and rights. Their actions are appalling and should be condemned by the international community. However, I say that even though the western world historically has turned a blind eye to African events.

    • 3 years ago
  • omordn
    • 0
      omordn  

    • When will this all stop? Have not had enough? Women and children are dying! Does that not matter to them? Somtimes I wish I never lived to see how horrible human kind really is. GET OVER IT! We all belong in this earth. We are no different.

    • 4 years ago
  • observer2121
    • 0
      observer2121  

    • The problem is that many of the Zimbabweans who travel to South Africa to escape Mugabe in Zimbabwe are for more educated than their South African counterparts. They are more qualified to work in the higher paying positions. Many of the South Africans are not qualified to work in a modernizing economy, they remain poor as they watch foreigners from Zimbabwe and other countries pass them by in their own country. This makes them very angry. They have no one to blame so they take their frustrations out on these Zimbabweans who are just trying to work hard to survive and prosper.

    • 4 years ago
  • MoMoney
    • 0
      MoMoney  

    • Please have this settled by 2010! I want to be there for the World Cup! Honestly corruption rules the world nowadays... Sad that if anyone wants to do things the right way, they will be attacked and put down as soft... The same is occurring everywhere....

    • 4 years ago
  • Tori
    • 0
      Tori  
    • Image

    • amypoo posted a really upsetting video of the attacks taking place in South Africa. Viewer discretion advised.

    • 4 years ago
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