/ 13 July 2010

Fear of violence drives exodus back to Zim

Families of Zimbabwean migrants have been fleeing South Africa because they fear xenophobic attacks now that the World Cup is over.

Families of Zimbabwean migrants have been fleeing South Africa because they fear xenophobic attacks now that the World Cup is over, an international aid agency said on Tuesday.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said it was preparing for a “possible exodus of vulnerable Zimbabwean migrants fleeing threats of post World Cup xenophobic violence in South Africa”.

South African security forces moved into townships in the Cape Town area on Monday after attacks and threats against foreign migrants workers. Scores of workers took refuge at police stations after shops run by migrants were looted.

The IOM had no figures for Zimbabweans crossing at the border town of Beitbridge in the past week, but said they had seen unusually high numbers of trucks laden with furniture and household goods, indicating people were leaving homes and jobs.

“People have clearly stated that they are returning indefinitely because of the fear of violence,” IOM spokesperson Jared Bloch told a news briefing in Geneva.

More than 90% of 140 Zimbabwean migrants interviewed by the IOM at the weekend upon return to their homeland said that they had fled threats of violence. The other 10% said they had already suffered xenophobic violence.

The World Cup ended on Sunday.

South Africa has attracted millions of workers from across the continent who compete with locals for scarce jobs and resources. Two years ago more than 60 people were killed during anti-foreigner attacks.

“These are not idle threats people are responding to. They have a very real memory of what could happen,” Bloch said.

An estimated 1,5-million to two million Zimbabweans work and live in South Africa, according to the Geneva-based IOM.

Its contingency plans include pre-positioning food and hygiene packs on the Zimbabwean side of the border and measures to speed processing of documents in case of a large influx.

Locals ‘strategising’ attacks
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has received more than 200 calls from distressed Zimbabweans fearing xenophobic attacks.

“Since Sunday, we’ve been receiving calls … I received 207 calls from members of the party who say they can’t go home,” MDC spokesperson in South Africa Sibanengi Dube told reporters in Johannesburg.

“They said they were seeing locals standing in groups, strategising [to attack].”

Dube said the calls were from all corners of the country, but most of them came from the Western Cape.

“I received calls of individuals who claimed to have been beaten up,” he said.

Environment in SA ‘largely unchanged’
The SA Institute of Race Relations said on Tuesday there had been little change in the environment that gave rise to the attacks in 2008.

Spokesperson Catherine Schulze said the institute was not predicting an outbreak of violence, as there was not enough information to do so.

But it was cautioning that the environment that gave rise to the attacks of 2008 was “largely unchanged”.

“Poverty, unemployment, and incomes indicators have not shifted significantly since 2008, while high levels of crime and violence are an everyday reality in many poor communities.

“At the same time, reports of increased threats, some disguised as jokes and idle banter, created an enabling environment for a renewed series of attacks.”

She said the institute urged the government and the African National Congress to use their leadership positions to change perceptions that many black South Africans harboured towards foreign African immigrants.

Senior government figures should make “concerted public statements” condemning xenophobia.

The institute’s statement followed a series of incidents in the Western Cape, where on Sunday night a number of foreign-owned spaza and container shops in Cape Town and surrounding towns were burned and looted.

Some vandalism and attempted looting continued during the day on Monday in Khayelitsha, where police helped Somali shop owners remove their goods.

Police said on Tuesday morning however that the situation was “calm”.

On Monday, President Jacob Zuma said though there had been rumours of planned new violence, he was not certain there had been actual threats.

He said the government had established a ministerial commission to deal with the situation and people “should not have fears”. – Sapa, Reuters