Local police, foreigners on high alert for xenophobic attack
As the xenophobic attack which started in KwaZulu-Natal spreads to Gauteng (evident in Germiston and Johannesburg), hundreds of foreign nationals in the Angelo informal settlement have, in the meantime, fled their homes.
According to a spokesperson for the Boksburg SAPS, Lieut Kwendzakwakhe Ngobese, about 1 000 panic-stricken foreigners left their shacks on Wednesday evening (April 15) and gathered at the side of Main Reef Road.
They were scared that South Africans would attack them while they were asleep in their shacks.
They spent the night under the stars.
Others reportedly went back to their homes in the early hours of Thursday, but slept on the roofs of their shacks, as they were scared that locals would set fire to the structures.
Ngobese said about 50 of the foreigners also arrived at the police station, to seek protection against any attack by locals.
However, according to Ngobese there have been no incidents of violence in the informal settlement and the foreigners also acknowledged that no threats were made against them.
Although no incidents of violence were reported in Ramaphosa, Reiger Park Police said they are monitoring the area following the recent wave of xenophobic attacks in other parts of South Africa.
According to a spokesperson for the Reiger Park SAPS, Sgt Mashudu Phathela, police are on ”high alert” and they are closely monitoring all the xenophobic attack hot spots.
“We are also engaging with both locals and foreigners to ensure that this thing does not come here,” he said.
”There have been no incidents of violence in Ramaphosa or any of the other areas in our precinct.
“We have our vans patrolling the area, but if anything happens we will call for back-up from other stations.”
Speaking to the Advertiser this morning (Thursday), Phathela said foreign shop owners are still operating their businesses as usual, and have told the police that they have not received any threats from locals.
Phathela appeal to all residents of Ramaphosa to refrain from any acts of violence, adding that police will not tolerate a situation where people decide to take the law into their own hands.
Vicious xenophobic attacks broke out in Ramaphosa in 2008, when score of people were killed and thousands were displaced.
This included the brutal murder of Ernesto Nhamuave, a 35-year-old Mozambican, who was burned alive during the violence.
Shop owners have, in the past couple of years, been intermittently threatened by locals, who demanded that they immediately shut down their businesses and leave the area.
In the meantime, President Jacob Zuma has admitted that the government’s tardy response to socio-economic frustrations might be fuelling the mayhem.
He said the violence and looting – in which at least five people have been killed and hundreds displaced – was “not acceptable”.
– @FanieFLK
