Zimbabweans living in SA told to ‘cease and desist’ criminal activities which may invoke anger

The Zim-Community SA has demanded that Zimbabwean nationals living in the country ‘cease and desist’ in any criminal activities which may be invoking the anger and hate they are receiving from South Africans.

This comes after the murder of a Zimbabwean national during the violent Diepsloot protests.

Elvis Nyathi was attacked by a mob and burnt alive as community members of Diepsloot protested against crime in the area.

According to the police, the mob went door to door around 9pm and demanded passports from foreign nationals which then led to Nyathi being attacked when he tried to flee.

The mob then chased after him and brutally beat him up and also demanded R300 from his wife whom they also allegedly attacked.

No arrests have been made in connection to Nyathi’s murder.

The Zim-Community SA said it is disingenuous to claim that all undocumented migrants are criminals.

Compassion and understanding

The organisation has called on South Africans to have compassion and understanding.

“It’s very unfortunate that some of our nationals are not documented and as an organization at the forefront of documentation we can boldly say, we know our compatriots want to be documented! We call upon the South African government to act with haste to protect all the people under its borders and that law enforcement be the only enforcer of law.”

“It is not very easy to fix our country as some claim. It is not out of lack of trying. The inhuman treatment is very painful to us,” the organisation said.

The Zim-Community SA said the attacks on Zimbabweans in South Africa is ‘evil and unwarranted.’

“It is even more shocking that we hear insensitive statements that our people deliberately do not want to be documented, when as the current state of document renewal stands, the extension of the ZEP documentation regime has been revoked and thousands of our people who have been forced by both economic and political circumstances which they hardly have control over suddenly face uncertainty about their futures.”

Meanwhile, a high-level police contingent which includes Minister Bheki Cele, is expected to visit the Diepsloot community on Friday to listen to their concerns and address their grievances surrounding crime in the area.

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