As the country was rendered volatile the past week, Limpopo has seemingly so far been spared the spill-over of xenophobia-related uprisings this time round. With fears of attack against non-South African nationals expressed as text messages about acts in the planning around Polokwane were randomly forwarded, fresh claims surfaced about the alleged involvement of foreigners in clandestine activities in the provincial capital.
Information gained from sources granted a glimpse of occurrences that currently dominate among instances in the city’s underworld, pointing at a rising non-African element in cahoots with locals in incidents of alleged extortion, drug deals and prostitution targeting pockets of the community.
As proof Polokwane Observer was furnished with a spine-chilling voice recording of a recent planned execution on the outskirts of town in exchange for a meagre R15 000 – that was upped to R20 000 on a whim – and moving visuals reportedly related to the assault of one of two suspects suspected of ordering the hit on the foreigner. An editorial decision was taken to withhold publication of further details on the incident at this stage.
At the same time information was received about vulnerable wealthy individuals from prominent families in town allegedly being set up with incriminating sex videos or busted with illegal substances planted in their possession in exchange for sums of money that could vary from small amounts that were likely to increase in demand by gangs of mostly foreigners.
Sources further mentioned a prominent local high school being infiltrated by a young drug-peddling mule on behalf of a gang within a larger grouping that is being perceived to be responsible for heinous crimes. At the same time it was claimed that their other focus was schoolgirls being pimped for sexual pleasure.
Whether fake or not, phone messages that were roaming on the weekend still contained the detonating factor that could spark a flame and the type of action that could turn lethal in a threat against foreigners. It also managed to emotionally destabilise residents of the city concerned about their own safety at the turning point of one of the most volatile periods in the history of a democratic South Africa.
This was not without reason as Limpopo has been fertile soil for some of the most violent incidents targeting foreign nationals before. The prevalence of forms of self-imposed justice steered from within communities has become a common phenomenon in the province and usually not necessarily aimed at non-South Africans alone, but any element seen to be responsible for having committed crime in the eyes of the community.
The messages circulating on the weekend spoke of an intended shut-down of Seshego on Monday morning to remove all “xenophobia who came to South Africa illegally”, stated one of the texts forwarded to Polokwane Observer. It further reads that “they are busy selling drugs to our children. Day by day our children are being raped. It is time to stand up, people of Seshego. We must wake up. This is our home town. This is not the South Africa(n country) that we know. This xenophobia must go back to the country they came in (from to) South Africa in numbers just to sell expired goods and they are not paying tax in our own country. *#Xenophobia must go*.”
Police comment
On Tuesday morning Provincial Police spokesperson Moatshe Ngoepe indicated that no xenophobia-related incidents had been reported in the province thus far.
Comment by Department of
Community Safety
In reaction to an enquiry Transport and Community Safety MEC spokesperson Joel Seabi corroborated the Police’s version by indicating that no reports on xenophobia in Limpopo had been received. A threat about a Beitbridge border closure by individuals in the taxi industry in Musina last week that had not been carried through was being considered unrelated, he added.
Provincial government
A media release following an earlier meeting of Limpopo’s Executive Council (Exco) and posted on the Office of the Premier’s WhatsApp group on Monday addressed salient matters under discussion. It was stated that the Exco, in joining multitudes of South Africans, has condemned the scourge of gender-based violence, femicide, xenophobic attacks, shutdowns and child abuse with the contempt it deserved.
It was further stressed that the Exco approved the framework to review the Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy through hosting a Provincial Summit on Safety and Security, it was added. “This will not only ensure that crime is dealt with expeditiously but, most importantly, that it is detected before it occurs thus retaining our status as the province of peace.”
Further, it was announced, the Departments of Provincial Treasury and Transport and Community Safety had been directed to work around crafting modalities of convening a Community Safety Dialogue as pronounced jointly by the provincial government and the South African Council of Churches, with a conference on sexual offences being infused into the broader dialogue.
The Exco simultaneously directed that an extended Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster Committee meeting be convened to deal with matters related to border management and managing of illegal immigrants.
Story: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com
