Harare – In another move of reckless speech that is likely to torch another bout of xenophobia attacks, South Africa’s Police minister Fiki...
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Harare – In another move of reckless speech that is likely to torch another bout of xenophobia attacks, South Africa’s Police minister Fikile Mbalula has accused undocumented Zimbabwe nationals of wreaking havoc and perpetrating crime in the country.
“They kill, they do everything, we get into those buildings, they are stinking, they are dirty and they are high-jacked. We went there with the police, we raided those places. I told one person coming from Zimbabwe, ‘we are coming with the police; you know what is going to happen?
“We are going to arrest you for not having papers.’ He said to me, ‘minister I know, but I will try my best to come back’.”
Unfazed by the barbaric acts that have claimed many lives before, Mbalula said xenophobia was being used to silence him.
Unfazed by the barbaric acts that have claimed many lives before, Mbalula said xenophobia was being used to silence him.
“One time I said the people who robbed that OR Tambo (Airport) in terms of the heist, five of them arrested come from Zimbabwe. They are trained soldiers. South Africa was bombing on me that I was being xenophobic, I was not, I was just exposing the nationality, and I said let me leave this thing.”
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| Former SA Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula |
Between 2000 and March 2008, at least 67 people died in what were identified as xenophobic attacks. In May 2008, a series of attacks left 62 people dead; although 21 of those killed were South African citizens. The attacks were apparently motivated by xenophobia.
In 2015, another nationwide spike in xenophobic attacks against immigrants in general prompted a number of foreign governments to begin repatriating their citizens.
A 2004 study by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) of attitudes among police officers in the Johannesburg area found that 87 percent of respondents believed that most undocumented immigrants in Johannesburg are involved in crime, despite there being no statistical evidence to substantiate the perception.
A 2004 study by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) of attitudes among police officers in the Johannesburg area found that 87 percent of respondents believed that most undocumented immigrants in Johannesburg are involved in crime, despite there being no statistical evidence to substantiate the perception.
Such views combined with the vulnerability of illegal aliens led to abuse, including violence and extortion, some analysts argued.
In a March 2007 meeting with home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula a representative of Burundian refugees in Durban claimed immigrants could not rely on police for protection but instead found police mistreating them, stealing from them and making unfounded allegations that they sell drugs.
In a March 2007 meeting with home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula a representative of Burundian refugees in Durban claimed immigrants could not rely on police for protection but instead found police mistreating them, stealing from them and making unfounded allegations that they sell drugs.
Two years earlier, at a similar meeting in Johannesburg, Mapisa-Nqakula had admitted that refugees and asylum seekers were mistreated by police with xenophobic attitudes. - Daily News/Online Sources
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