‘Violence against foreigners after Cup’

By HARRIET MCLEA | May 13, 2010

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BARBARIC BEHAVIOUR: A Reiger Park resident struggles after being assaulted, covered with bedding he had been carrying and set alight by a rampaging mob. Pic: Halden Krog. The Times.

On the second anniversary of the attacks on foreigners that left 62 people dead and about 100000 fleeing for their lives, a refugee research group has warned that xenophobic violence will flare up again after the World Cup.

Duncan Breen, spokesman for the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in SA, said yesterday: “We need to make this public and speak out about it. If we bring this conversation out into the open now we can talk about what needs to be done to prevent further xenophobic violence.”

The consortium said it was concerned by “widespread reports” from foreigners who said “they are being threatened with violence after the World Cup”.

The threats come from neighbours, colleagues, taxi drivers, passers-by on the street, nurses, social workers and police officers.

The consortium said it was concerned that “some of those making the threats believe they have the support of senior political leaders”.

But Zweli Mnisi, spokesman for Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, cautioned that the consortium’s statements might “be blown out of proportion”.

He said if violence were to recur, the police “will deal with these criminal elements who disguise themselves as xenophobia.”

The consortium called for “strong and immediate preventative action by the government and other institutions” to prevent bloodshed which promised to be worse than the attacks of May 2008.

An official at Johannesburg’s Central Methodist Church, where almost 2000 foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, continue to shelter, said he had also heard reports of threats of attacks.