Locals and African immigrants in South Africa often compete for scarce jobs, making the foreigners a target for violence and intimidation. Early this year, foreign shopkeepers in and around Soweto fled their premises after violence and looting broke out.
The Tanzanians, who spoke to The Citizen from makeshift camps put up to shelter foreigners fleeing from the violence, sent a distress call to the government to evacuate them.
Dar es Salaam/Johannesburg. Tanzanians caught up in the xenophobic violence in South Africa yesterday spoke of their shocking experience fleeing blood-thirsty mobs hell bent on attacking foreigners.
The Tanzanians, who spoke to The Citizen from makeshift camps put up to shelter foreigners fleeing from the violence, sent a distress call to the government to evacuate them.
Ms Nuru Abdallah, who is eight months pregnant, said: “We are appealing to our government to urgently take us away from here because our safety is not guaranteed.”
Speaking on the phone from Johannesburg, the mother of two said her family had sought refuge at Isipingo Beach Village in Durban. “I have found nearly 40 other Tanzanians in this temporary camp, but the situation is dire as we are sleeping in the cold and lack food,” she said.
Ms Abdallah told The Citizen that she is married to a Mozambican who also fled and has reportedly been sent back to his home country.
Locals and African immigrants in South Africa often compete for scarce jobs, making the foreigners a target for violence and intimidation.
Early this year, foreign shopkeepers in and around Soweto fled their premises after violence and looting broke out.
In 2008, 62 people were killed in similar violence in Johannesburg townships. South Africa stands accused of betraying its human rights ideals and African nations that aided it in the fight against apartheid. The violence is embarrassing for the ruling African National Congress, whose members sought refuge in countries on the continent before white-minority rule ended in 1994.
Meanwhile, the Tanzanian High Commission in Pretoria confirmed yesterday that there were plans to evacuate its citizens from the camps. Acting High Commissioner Elibahati Ngoyai Lowassa said consular officials were dispatched yesterday to the camps around Kwazulu Natal Province, the epicenter of the chaos, to establish the number of Tanzanians.
“So far, we have learnt that 15 Tanzanians have called for help and our team will establish the magnitude of the planned evacuation,” said Mr Lowassa.
The spokesman of Tanzanians in Durban, Mr Bonka Kuseleka, told The Citizen on Wednesday that two Tanzanians had been killed in hate attacks this week but Mr Lowassa said there was no evidence linking the deaths with the violence.
Mr Kuseleka named the dead man as Rashid Jumanne, a cigarette peddler who died on Tuesday in Stenga suburb in Durban. Athumani alias China Mapepe, died on Wednesday.
According to Mr Kuseleka, Jumanne was shot dead while peddling his merchandise while Athumani, a detainee at Westville correctional facility, was stabbed to death by fellow inmates.
Official reports say at least six foreigners had been killed since the violence broke out early in the week. South African police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini reported that several suspects were arrested overnight as the anti-foreigner attacks spread to downtown Johannesburg.
Mr Kuseleka said he was co-ordinating efforts to establish the exact number of Tanzanians in other camps in the province.
Ms Abdallah’s cosmetic shop was broken into and looted and she fled at the sight of locals burning foreigners alive. She has lived in South Africa for a year. “I’m worried about our wellbeing,” said the 34-year-old from Songea. “I want to go back home, away from this nightmare.”
She hopes to re-unite with the father of her children when things cool down.
Ms Habiba Ally has not known peace since the attacks started. “I have been on the run, spending nights in the cold with three children,” she told The Citizen.
She has lived in SA for five years but she has now taken refuge at a camp along with her husband and children. She pleaded that the High Commission hurry the evacuation just as other countries have done.
The 41-year-old from Magomeni Mapipa in Dar es Salaam said: “My children go to school here, but the chaos has brought their learning to a halt. Our lives are on the edge and tomorrow can’t come soon enough.” If they are rescued, she vowed, she will never return to South Africa.
Herbalist Darwesh Mwinyimvua Bin-Ali was among the stranded. He said he narrowly escaped lynching when assailants invaded his office and looted everything.
“They took my passport and money,” he said against a backdrop of sirens that could be heard over the phone. “As I speak to you, I have nothing on me.”
Fifteen years ago, Mr Mohammed Ali left for South Africa in search of greener pastures. The electrician from Magomeni Mapipa looked for a place to live and came back for his family. They have since settled in South Africa and this past week has been nothing short of a nightmare for the 47-year-old.
He recalls: “Some locals have vowed to kill me and my family and set my house on fire. I could not leave anything to chance and I decided to leave my personal effects in the house and came here for refuge.”
Scenes of people being killed and the threats he got from locals are incomprehensible to him. He is now appealing to the government to rush to their rescue. “Danger is so imminent, I just want to go home,” Mr Mohammed said. “Let’s leave them with their country.”
Mr Mohammed says he has witnessed locals putting up billboards on walls and on electricity poles with a message that foreigners must leave South Africa.
“We are not ready to lose our lives this way,” he says. “We still have a place to call home in Tanzania.”
This is not the first time Mohammed is witnessing similar chaos. He was also in South Africa when violence broke out in 2008.
Faki Mohamed Faki is ready to part ways with his South African wife and his three children and return to Tanzania for safety’s sake. The 38-year-old, who runs a barber shop in Durban, says he is not assured of his safety as the camp is manned by only six police officers. “Staying here is suicidal,” he says. “We need to go back home.”
On Thursday, Mr Lowassa indicated that his office was not planning any evacuations as they had not received proof that Tanzanians were in danger.
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