Xenophobic attacks strike city

By Anele Siwa
23 May 2008

The xenophobic attacks have started in Du noon, Milnerton last night, hundreds of foreign nationals were forced to run away from their homes as mobs from the informal settlements were attacking them and their shops.

Meanwhile foreign nationals in Nyanga have been packing their staff and leaving the township since Thursday and in the early hours today.

The City of Cape Town mounted a relief effort through the night and Executive Mayor Helen Zille has met with displaced foreign refugees, Disaster Risk and law enforcement agencies at Killarney where refugees from nearby Du Noon had gathered.

“ The Mayor also held an emergency meeting with the Director-General of Home Affairs to move the current pick-up site for asylum seekers on the Foreshore to a more secure area and to process backlogs,” says Mayoral spokesperson Robert Macdonald.

Zille says the City is currently focusing on providing humanitarian help and stabilising the situation here and in Masiphumelele.

“I urge residents to refrain from getting involved in this violence, and to cooperate with the police and SANDF members,” she explains.

The Mayor goes on to say this breakdown of order is bad for everyone, citizens and asylum seekers.

“I ask anyone who has evidence that xenophobic violence is being instigated in other parts of our city to alert the police or city emergency services as a matter of urgency. The public can play a valuable role in helping us to detect and contain this unrest in its early stages wherever it is sparked off,” says the Mayor.

According to Macdonald the Mayor was joined by the Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Councillor Dumisani Ximbi.