This is the fifth installment of Cries from the Beloved Country blog posts, chronicling the latest issues in my former home, South Africa. I’m desperately wanting to write about good news from SA, but lately I can’t find any: Electricity outages, worsening crime, racism on campus, the return of Jacob Zuma, and now this xenophobic violence. The Mail and Guardian asks if this is the end of the rainbow nation?

Honestly, I think that Thabo Mbeki’s appeasement of Robert Mugabe and his refusal to confront his northern neighbor has come back to haunt him. By not working to convince Mugabe to reform or bring about his downfall, Mbeki, as the head of the most powerful nation in Africa, has only contributed to the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe which led so many to flee that country for the hope of a better life in South Africa. Now that they are his guests, whether he wants them or not, Mbeki has a moral obligation to protect the refugees seeking shelter and work in his country until, and if, they can go back to their homes. This means imposing law and order in his own country.

This is hot off the press, got it just now from a very good source in Cape Town [thanks mom!]

The Jewish communities of Somerset West and Strand just outside Cape Town in South Africa are rallying to help the thousands of African refugees fleeing ethnic violence in the country’s shanty towns. Into its second week, dozens of non-South African economic migrants and refugees who sought work in South Africa have been murdered in a wave of violence sweeping the country. Most of those doing the killing are 15-20 year old unemployed black South African boys. In a meeting held in Somerset West on Monday morning, the Bnot Zion and WIZO Jewish organizations mobilized to cook food, gather blankets and other essentials and distribute them to the needy, most of whom have been taken to churches in the Cape province. The move comes just a few days after the South African Jewish Board of Deputies mobilized the country’s Jewish communities to gather aid. One prominent member of the Somerset West Jewish community, who owns several fast food outlets, has begun donating food to the needy. Around 10,000 African refugees are currently under army protection in tents around churches in the area.

Here’s an impressive photo essay from Time showing some of the violence.

Got this from the UN news service. The violence is spreading so quickly, and I think I need to highlight this issue on my blog. I assigned one of our interns to do a story about how the South African Jewish Board of Deputies is organizing to help some of the people affected.

This is the most updated information from the UN news service:

Xenophobic violence has spread to Cape Town, while poverty stricken foreign nationals in six of South
Africa’s nine provinces seek ways of returning to their country of origin after attacks.

At least 42 people have been killed, 23 of whom were Mozambican nationals, according to Mozambique’s deputy interior minister, Jose Mandra. More than 17,000 people have been displaced and more than 400 suspects arrested. [I've heard a report that about 100 people have been killed, but I can't confirm this A.M.]

Violent attacks against foreign nationals began nearly two weeks ago in Alexandra township, in northern Johannesburg, and quickly spread to many other areas in Gauteng, South Africa’s richest province.

Mozambique’s foreign affairs Minister, Oldemiro Baloi, said on the national television channel, Televisao de Mozambique, that the National Operative Emergency Centre, also known by its acronym, CENOE, was being used to manage an expected influx of between 12,000 and 15,000 Mozambicans driven out by the violence in neighbouring South Africa.

Mozambique has provided buses for its nationals wanting to leave South Africa, while Malawi’s foreign affairs principal secretary, Ben Mbewe, said in a statement from Blantyre, Malawi’s second city, on 23 May: “More than 850 Malawians have been affected by the current violence. All Malawians willing to return home will be evacuated.”

Zimbabwe has announced similar plans, although many of its citizens fled to South Africa because of food shortages, post-election violence and an inflation rate unofficially estimated at 1 million percent.

It is thought that since 2000 between one and three million Zimbabweans have fled to neighboring South Africa, and form the majority of a foreign national community estimated at between one and 10 million people, most of whom are undocumented migrants.

A meeting gone wrong

According to local media, at about 9 p.m. on 22 May, after a meeting by residents of Cape Town’s Du Noon informal settlement, several shacks were destroyed, shops owned by foreigners were looted and one person was killed after a mob attacked foreign nationals with stones and bottles. About 500 foreigners sought refuge at the nearby Milnerton police station.

The Du Noon meeting was called in a bid to try and stop xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals.

Outbreaks of xenophobic violence are not a new phenomenon in Cape Town. In 2006, over a period of three months, 29 of the city’s population of 4,000 Somalis were killed in xenophobic attacks, according to a spokesperson for the Somali refugee community. The police dispute the figure and claim only 10 Somalis were killed, and that this was a result of crime and not xenophobia.

On the website of the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency’s representative in South Africa, Sanda Kimbimbi, said the “UNHCR is deeply concerned about the widespread xenophobic attacks targeting foreigners in Gauteng Province in South Africa. Those affected include refugees and asylum seekers who fled to South Africa seeking protection from persecution in their own countries.”