South Africa's anti-immigrant violence spreads to Cape Town

Police, Army begin joint operations in Johannesburg in try to quell the attacks, which have left 42 dead.

By Arthur Bright

posted May 23, 2008 at 10:15 am EDT

Ongoing anti-immigrant attacks in South Africa continue to spread, as violence flared for the first time in Cape Town, sparking worries about the damage to the nation's tourist economy.

Agence France-Presse reports that immigrants and foreign-owned shops were attacked Thursday in a slum in Cape Town, a major tourist draw on the southwest coast of South Africa. Rioting had previously been confined largely to where they began 12 days ago, in the Johannesburg area in the northeast.

Police spokesman for the Cape Town area Billy Jones said a public meeting in the Du Noon slum area 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the city degenerated into violence on Thursday evening.

"Groups within the crowd started to loot shops owned by Zimbabweans and other foreigners," he told AFP, saying 500 had since fled the area and were staying in community centres. "Some people were assaulted, but mostly shops were looted."

Since the antiimmigrant violence in South Africa began last week, at least 42 people have been killed and 25,000 have been driven from their homes. The attacks in Cape Town have officials worried about the threat to the tourist trade, Reuters reports. The violence may also damage the country's plans to host international soccer's premier tournament, the World Cup, in 2010.

Officials in the tourism industry, a cornerstone of the economy, are worried overseas visitors will avoid the country. A number of Western governments have issued travel warnings for South Africa, and tour companies report rising cancellations. Nearly one million South Africans earn their living from tourism, which accounts for 8 percent of the country's GDP. The country is hoping to draw an additional half a million tourists for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

"This violence shows total ignorance and a society which is very eager to shed blood," said George Pambason, director of the Cape Town-based Alliance for Refugees in South Africa. "How can they host the world if they can't live side by side with people who are different from them?"

However, CNN reports that the South African police and the South African National Defense Force said in a statement that their first joint operation in response to the violence was "extremely successful." The operation targeted three hostels in the Johannesburg area, resulting in 28 arrests and the seizure of marijuana, guns, and suspected stolen property. South African President Thabo Mbeki Wednesday authorized the military's mobilization to aid the police.

Brigadier General Kwena Mangope of the South African Department of Defense said troops were assisting the South African Police Service, the national police.

"We are in a supporting role," Mangope said. "We are not taking over the operation."

He said the army was providing troops and equipment, such as helicopters and tents.

The deployment of the military and the continued operations of the police service helped quell the violence, Malaudzi said. Community groups, churches, and communication between police and affected communities also helped the situation, he said.

"The message is going out there to say we condemn this kind of action, and (to) those that are involved in instigating this violence, the law is going to come down on them very, very seriously," Malaudzi said.

But the motivations of the rioters suggest that the violence is merely a symptom of greater concerns. Al Jazeera writes that interviewed rioters say their incomes are undermined by immigrants' willingness to work cheaply.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the those economic concerns, when mixed with the political crisis in Zimbabwe, are amplifying the problems in South Africa. Zimbabwe, located on South Africa's northern border, is currently in turmoil due to President Robert Mugabe's crackdowns amid accusations of fraud in the recent presidential election.

"If you listen to the reasons given by the people who have participated in the violence, you hear about how foreigners have taken their jobs, foreigners have taken their houses, foreigners are committing crimes, so you see there are socioeconomic concerns in the communities where the violence is taking place," says Prince Mashele, head of the crime and justice program at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Tshwane, as Pretoria is now called.

The longer Zimbabwe's political crisis continues, the greater the economic hardship on the Zimbabwe people, and the more those people come to South Africa and other countries for relief. Those who work for a salary find their salaries worthless by the time they get paid. That's why those Zimbabweans who have cars and can afford to do so have gone into commodities – buying everyday basics like flour, sugar, cooking oil on up to bags of cement – and selling it for a profit.

Maina wa Mutonyaa, reporter for Kenya's Daily Nation, says that some South Africans blame President Mbeki in part for failing to condemn Mugabe's actions.

George Tshabalala, a South African taxi driver in Rosebank, supports violence against foreigners. "How do you expect South Africans to live, work and be housed, when you have five million Zimbabweans in South Africa?" He asked me. He was angry at president Thabo Mbeki for failing to rebuke Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe's regime. Mbeki, known for his silent diplomacy towards the northern neighbour, has miffed South Africans over his stand on Zimbabwe.

However, Mr. Mutonyaa notes that the government may also bear the blame for the crisis due to its failure to provide basic housing, water, and sanitation services to South Africans. Locals, he writes, have made foreigners into scapegoats because "through their sweat, [they] have managed to improve their conditions without waiting for government handouts."