Families flee homes in face of xenophobic violence (South Africa)

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Source: Global Post

Attacks on foreigners driving refugees to camps, native country



On July 8, three days before the end of the 2010 World Cup, a group of Zimbabweans stood on the side of a highway outside Cape Town, praying for a ride back to their home country. “(The South Africans) say go back home, and so for the sake of my child, I’m going home. I don’t want to risk my life,” said Blessing Mutandiro, 38, who was waiting with her husband and 6-month-old daughter. “We really hope and pray that nothing happens to the ones that are staying behind."

Xenophobic tension has long been an issue in South Africa and those tensions boiled over during the May 2008 attacks, which left more than 60 people dead and tens of thousands displaced. The wave of violence swept from Johannesburg down to Cape Town, where it was less bloody but still left thousands living in refugee camps during the bitterly cold winter.

Last December, more than 2,000 Zimbabweans were forced from their homes and their shacks were torn down after South Africans living in the township accused them of taking all the jobs in the small farm town of De Doorns, two hours outside Cape Town. More than 250 of the displaced are still staying at a refugee camp. “They say maybe if we chase away the foreigners, then we will get a job,” Mutandiro said with a shrug. South Africans often threatened her while she was taking public transportation from her township on the way to work; they told her to go back to Zimbabwe before the Cup ends or face the consequences, she said.

But threats against foreigners began even before the World Cup ended and violence began on the night of the final match. Since the attacks began on July 11, about 1,000 people, including Somalis, Zimbabweans, Congolese, Rwandans, Malawians and Zambians, have been displaced and have taken shelter at police stations and community halls. Some of the displaced have returned to their home countries, others have reintegrated back into the townships, and many are remaining in shelters in case the violence gets worse.

Read more: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/study-abroad/100721/south-africa-xenophobia-zimbabwe-refugees-violence