South Africa’s President Cyril
Ramaphosa on Thursday said that at least 10 persons have been killed, two of
them foreigners, in a wave of riots and attacks.
The president said this in a
televised address in Johannesburg on Thursday.
“Over the past few days, our
country has been deeply traumatised and troubled by acts of violence and
criminality directed against foreign nationals and our own citizens,” Ramaphosa
said.
“People have lost their lives,
families have been traumatised … We know that at least 10 people have been
killed in the violence. Two of whom were foreign nationals.”
South African police arrested
more than 80 people and confirmed five deaths as riots in Johannesburg and the
capital Pretoria intensified on Tuesday, spreading to surrounding townships
with roving groups attacking mainly foreign-owned shops.
The latest wave of unrest in
South Africa has raised fears of a recurrence of violence aimed at foreigners
in 2015 in which at least seven people were killed.
Before that, some 60 people were
killed in a wave of unrest around the country in 2008.
Police have yet to pinpoint what
triggered the violence, which began on Sunday when protesters armed with
makeshift weapons roamed the streets of Pretoria’s business district pelting
shops with rocks and petrol bombs and running off with goods.
High unemployment and widespread
poverty have been cited as possible triggers for the recent disturbances and
attacks on immigrants, but some officials say the riots might be the work of
criminal syndicates.
“We can’t rule out pure
criminality of criminals using a sensitive situation where there are real
grievances on issues of unemployment and foreign nationals,” police minister
Bheki Cele said.
Cele confirmed five people had been
killed in the three days of rioting, but did not give further details on the
circumstances or on arrests.
The Premier of Gauteng province,
David Makhura, said during an inspection of the damage in Alexandra that there
was a “xenophobic sentiment” underlying the attacks.
Ramaphosa condemned the violence,
saying in a video posted on Twitter that “attacking businesses run by foreign
nationals is totally unacceptable”.
Immigration to South Africa from
across the continent and from parts of southeast Asia picked up in the early
1990s, spurred by the end of apartheid rule and the economic boom that
followed.
On Wednesday, UN
Secretary-General António Guterres “strongly condemned” the renewed wave of
“acts of violence” against foreigners and their property in parts of South
Africa.
“We strongly condemn the acts of
violence that have been reported in different provinces in South Africa,
including attacks against foreigners and the destruction of their property.
“He has also noted Ramaphosa’s
call for strengthening accountability in line with democratic values enshrined
in South Africa’s constitution.
“The Secretary General urges all
political leaders to clearly and openly reject the use of violence,” he said.
But the UN Chief’s spokesman also
avoided the xenophobia tag, choosing rather to describe the attacks as “acts of
violence”.
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