From Times OnlineMay 19, 2008

South Africa wracked by brutal township killing spree

(EPA/KIM LUDBROOK)

Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg
South Africa has been left in shock after an eruption of violence on a scale not seen since the end of apartheid.

Anger at substantial immigrant populations - fellow blacks mainly from Zimbabwe and Mozambique - has seen at least 22 people killed in the past week since the first incidents in the northern Johannesburg township of Alexandra.

The killing has now spread through the country like wild-fire and many of the South African papers on Monday carried a shocking image of a man, from Zimbabwe , being burned alive before a jeering crowd.

The picture has triggered calls for tough action by the authorities to bring the situation under control and more criticism of the lame-duck government of President Thabo Mbeki which is fighting to maintain credibility.

The victim is believed to have died later in hospital.

Police have made 250 arrests on charges ranging from rape to robbery and public violence but over the weekend alone 13 people were killed, hacked, shot and burned to death by rioting mobs.

The wrath of the country’s teeming townships has been sparked by the belief that “foreigners” are stealing locals’ jobs and fuelling the country’s sky-high crime rates.

Zimbabweans and other immigrants in townships have been forced to abandon their homes and run for their lives. Many are ordered to leave their meagre possessions behind.

The violence has focused attention on the failure of the ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) to improve life for those at the bottom of the country’s social pyramid. Unemployment in the townships is well above the national average of 25 percent and basic services are in short supply.

Crowds of foreigners have sought refuge at packed community centres and police stations on the edge of townships all over Gauteng province, where Johannesburg is located. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at gangs of men who threatened to burn down foreigners’ shacks.

In Reiger Park, a slum area outside Johannesburg’s East Rand, at least two people were set on fire and dozens of other residents forced to flee. The violence also spread to downtown Johannesburg, where hundreds of foreign families squat in buildings largely vacated by South Africans who abandoned the area due to high levels of crime and prostitution.

“People are having to find scapegoats, this is about competition for diminishing resources... Mbeki has tried to de-racialise the economy but only a very small number at the top have really benefited,” said Sipho Seephe, President of the South Africa Institute of Race Relations.

Mr Mbeki’s government has overseen economic growth which has created an emerging black middle class, but some 40 percent of the population - 80 percent of which is black - is little better off than at the end of apartheid in 1994.

But it is the return of “neck-lacing” - when “traitors” had rubber tyres draped over their necks and set on fire - which has most appalled liberal commentators as well as many ordinary citizens and triggered a bout of soul-searching as to why the country has veered so far off course.

Once again, Mr Mbeki - whose “quiet diplomacy” towards Robert Mugabe has seen him derided at home and abroad - finds himself in the firing line. For years, the government has been warned that the influx of Zimbabweans into the country was straining relations among the poorest sections of the community to breaking point.

An estimated three million exiles from Zimbabwe, most of them illegal immigrants in that they do not have asylum papers, are now competing along with large numbers of Malawians, Somalis and Mozambicans for scarce jobs. Poor South Africans also accuse them of jumping housing queues through paying bribes to corrupt officials.

The situation contributed to him losing the ANC Presidency to his rival Jacob Zuma, a populist, at the end of last year. Mbeki's reaction to the current crisis - to call an inquiry - is dismissed as typical “Mbeki fudging”.

“People want action, on jobs, on Zimbabwe, on crime - instead we get reviews and inquiries. We know the causes of these problems, it is a failure of leadership,” said one political commentator.

A radio talk show host accused Mr Mbeki and his “denialist” cabinet of not having the faintest idea what is happening in the townships while the ANC’s own Treasurer-General Mathews Phosa even called for Mr Mbeki to step down early - a call from which the ANC leadership later distanced itself.

“Mbeki could have probably not done that much to stop this influx, but he could have used a language which better conveyed a sense of crisis,” said Mr Seephe.

“The school system is crumbling, the public health sector is in crisis and the HIV/AIDs epidemic is taking scarce resources and this feeds a perception that nothing is improving.”

Mr Mbeki’s government is blamed for failing to grant many of the Zimbabweans refugee status, leaving them few options but to work as illegal immigrants and in some cases opt for crime which has fuelled “anti-foreigner” sentiment.

Jody Kollapen, the chairman of the Human Rights Commission in South Africa, said that the fury on the streets was so strong that it may be time for the army to be sent in to help the over-stretched police to put down the violence.

"If we are going to secure cities and townships... we should be asking now whether we need to bring in the military," said Mr Kollapen. "The feelings of hatred that are coming out at this level takes us back to the horrible days of apartheid."

Emmerson Ziso, a former teacher from Zimbabwe who was chased out of his home by a mob, said: " The police and the army can’t control it. Most of the Zimbabweans want to leave. It is better at home than here."

Michael Khondwane, one of the demonstrators in Cleveland, said that he blamed foreigners for South Africa’s drug and crime scourge. He said the violence would send them “the message that they must go”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/arti...andnum=1211234767129

South Africa has been rocked by scenes of hatred and savagery as poor township blacks turn on the migrants they claim have taken their jobs.

More than 20 have been killed and thousands forced to flee by gangs wielding guns, clubs and machetes.


Most horrifying of all, for a country which thought the worst was behind it, has been the return of necklacing, the appalling method of killing which involves putting a petrol-filled tyre around a victim's neck and setting it ablaze.






http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-10205...rican-townships.html

Isnt time for Mugabe to go?

Too many damn people with hot blood just hanging around.

This is what the do to their very own brothers in desparate situations. The people are ruthless and cruel.

Why are there so many White police still? It looks like South Africa is still chained to their White masters.

This should be a message to CaribJ and Benford, Black people can be cruel and ruthless, even as bad as the Arabs to their own kind.

quote:

Originally posted by BGurd_See:
Why are there so many White police still? It looks like South Africa is still chained to their White masters.

This should be a message to CaribJ and Benford, Black people can be cruel and ruthless, even as bad as the Arabs to their own kind.

That is so true. Quite unlike India which is so peaceful and loving. No robbing, killing, raping over there.

quote:

Originally posted by BGurd_See:
Why are there so many White police still? It looks like South Africa is still chained to their White masters.

This should be a message to CaribJ and Benford, Black people can be cruel and ruthless, even as bad as the Arabs to their own kind.

Black people wotliss baad.

quote:

Originally posted by baseman:
This is what the do to their very own brothers in desparate situations. The people are ruthless and cruel.

Samething happens in Pakistan and India.

[quote]Samething happens in Pakistan and India

Are you suggesting that they are killing each other in Jammu and Kashmir? I am shocked there are killings going on over there.

Trditionally white South Africans were known for their mercenary skills.....they worked for hire in the past for many repressive regimes in Africa and else where.....

In the days of apartheid South Africa "exported" mercenaries even to black regimes that were repressing their people....