It
began after the Zulu king, Goodwill Zwelithini, told his followers last
month that foreigners in South Africa should pack up and leave.
President Jacob Zuma’s eldest son, Edward, chimed in that foreigners
were “taking over the country” in a “ticking time bomb.”
Then last
week, violent attacks on immigrant shopkeepers in Durban townships
exploded and have continued since. Dozens of immigrants in Johannesburg
and other cities shuttered their shops Wednesday as anonymous cellphone
text messages warned that Zulu people were coming to kill immigrants in
neighborhoods with large migrant populations.
One message read:
“Wednesday, Zulu people are coming to town starting from Market (Street)
their mission is to kill every foreigner on the road please pass this
to all your contacts in case they come people should be on alert.”
Another
referred to an attack that “will be more destructive than ever before,”
and warned immigrants to stay indoors. “Take (it) serious our friends r
killed like Cockroaches.”
Violence spread in central Durban on
Tuesday, after looters attacked shops owned by immigrants, some of whom
armed themselves with machetes and knives. Five have died in the recent
violence near Durban, along the country’s southeast coast.
Violence
targeting immigrant shopkeepers, fueled by hate speech, envy and high
unemployment, has dogged South Africa for years, although it is often
dismissed by police and government officials as criminal but not
specifically aimed at immigrants. In 2008, 62 people were killed in
attacks on immigrants in townships around Johannesburg.
“The
situation is very tense. There are many foreign nationals who are
fearing for their lives. Some of them want to go back to their homes in
other countries. I’ve met many people who are worried and don’t know
what to do,” said Mkululi White, spokesman for the African Disapora
Forum, which represents immigrants in South Africa.
The victims
are often Somalis, Kenyans, Mozambicans, Ethiopians, Malawians, Pakistanis and
Nigerians and other Africans. Estimates of the immigrant population in
South Africa range from 2 million to 5 million, according to Human
Rights Watch.
Some 2,400 people fled their homes in the Durban violence this past week and have been living in makeshift camps.
On
Friday, in the worst attack in the latest unrest, two Ethiopian
brothers in Umlazi township near Durban were locked in their small shop
in a shipping container, which had been set alight by a mob. Tescma
Marcus, 22, died that night at a hospital, while his brother, Alex, 24,
remains in a serious condition.
Mobs
looted shops Wednesday in the KwaZulu-Natal city of Pietermaritzburg,
and the African Diaspora Forum reported a threat to firebomb a building
in the town of Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape, that houses many
foreign-owned shops.
In January, more than 120 foreign-owned shops
were looted, often while police stood by. Six people were killed in the
violence. There were similar mass attacks on immigrant businesses in
May, June and September. But organizations representing immigrants in
South Africa say that low-level attacks in small towns occur almost
weekly.
Bereje Fana, spokesman for the Ethiopian Community Assn.,
said the organization had been pressing South African authorities to
take attacks in immigrants more seriously and to protect them, their
homes and businesses. He blamed Zwelithini, the Zulu king, for careless
remarks that ignited the recent attacks.
The worst of the violence
has been in and around Durban, which is the capital of Kwa-Zulu Natal
state, where Zulus are the largest ethnic group.
“We have heard it’s going to continue,” Fana said.
“We’re trying to highlight it and bring it to the attention of the
authorities, to create awareness and protect their lives and protect
their businesses.”
President Zuma last week condemned attacks on
foreign nationals, adding that his government was taking steps against
illegal immigrants, including curbing illegal migration, arresting
foreigners involved in crime, and shutting down unlicensed shops.
“Citizens
should also provide information to the police if they know of foreign
nationals who are engaged in criminal activities. They should not be
attacked,” Zuma said.
The leaders of informal associations
representing South African owners of small cafes and shops have been
blamed for stirring inflammatory sentiment in the past, accusing foreign
shopkeepers of flooding the market with cheap, substandard goods and
destroying South African jobs and businesses. Last month, a meeting in
Soweto called on the government to stop treating foreigners with kid
gloves.
It’s not clear what the business owners want the government to do, however.
White, of the African Diaspora Forum, called on police to arrest those responsible.
“We
think the perpetrators of this violence are some businesspeople from
our own country who don’t like to compete with businesses run by people
from other countries,” he said. “Our research has also shown that
unemployment plays a big role, because the majority of the people who
are attacking foreign businesses are unemployed.”
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FOR THE RECORD
1:14 p.m.: An earlier version of this post attributed the quote above to Prince Thulani Zulu.
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White added that his organization was also concerned that comments by King Zwelithini and Edward Zuma played a role.
The
king’s spokesman, Prince Thulani Zulu, last week denied that the king’s
comments triggered the violence, and condemned those carrying it out.
“These are just thugs. The king has never said that people must be killed,” Zulu said in comments to South African news media.
Last
month, White said, he was in Ngcobo, in the Eastern Cape, where several
immigrant shopkeepers had fled a mob of about 180 people.
“These
attacks are going on all the time. There are also cases where foreign
nationals are accused of doing something they didn’t do, or officials
demand bribes from them,” he said.
Sinovuyo Ndlela, the African
Diaspora Forum provincial organizer in the Eastern Cape, said the leader
of a community group opposed to immigrants threatened Wednesday to
firebomb a building in the town of Mthatha, where around 20 shops owned
by Somalis and Ethiopians were located.
“He told me that they’re
going to do the same thing that is happening in Durban. They are saying
that they stand for the community, they’re fighting for youth. What is
happening here in South Africa is that most of them [the instigators]
are jealous of these foreign-owned businesses, saying they’re selling
things cheap,” she said.
She said two weeks ago, in the town of Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape, a mob of several dozen people evicted an Ethiopian shopkeeper.
“There
were about 100 guys chasing an Ethiopian guy, saying he must go home to
his own country,” she said. “There have been very many attacks in the
past.”
