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Xenophobia-related violence continues unabated in S. Africa

Xinhua, January 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Xenophobia-related violence continued unabated on Friday in the black township of Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg.

The number of people arrested for suspected involvement in looting had risen to 158 by Friday morning, police said.

Some looters are so young they couldn't be detained and had to be released to their parents, said police.

The latest spate of violence erupted after a 14-year-old boy was killed on Monday by a foreign shop owner, for allegedly trying to break into the shop.

His death sparked widespread attacks on foreign-owned shops. So far one foreigner was killed in the violence, while almost 100 foreign shops had been looted,

Police warned foreign shop owners to get a truck and move their stock as tensions rose. Many foreign shop owners have already emptied their shops, with some of them taking up arms to protect themselves.

President Jacob Zuma, now on a working visit to Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, has instructed the Security Cluster in Cabinet as well as the provincial and local government leadership to work together to bring the situation under control and work towards restoring normalcy, the Presidency said.

Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa, who is now the acting president, is keeping Zuma briefed about the situation in Soweto, presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj said.

Also on Friday, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said they could not rule out the possibility that the recent unrest in Soweto is related to xenophobia.

There was strong socio-economic evidence to suggest that this could be xenophobia at a local level, SAHRC CEO Kayum Ahmed said.

Xenophobia is deeply rooted in South Africa, where foreigners are blamed for taking up jobs that would have belonged to locals.

South Africa's neighbours still face huge problems of underdevelopment and poverty and there has been a constant stream of economic refugees into South Africa, looking for work and an escape from poverty. Endi