Xenophobia pamphlet raises fears

It started with a pamphlet that was purportedly circulated by residents in the township of Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, a fortnight ago, which urged local residents to join a “march against foreign nationals” in the area.

Within hours of the xenophobic pamphlets falling into the hands of the local residents, including scores of non-South African nationals living in the Pretoria township, the fear of looming random attacks soon reverberated like a tremor, sending hundreds of worried “foreign nationals” and their families cowering for safety for fear of being attacked.

News of the xenophobic “march” spread far and wide through several other townships and informal settlements around Pretoria, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.

By Monday morning of January 19, several businesses owned by foreign nationals in parts of Kathorus had already closed and their trading shacks along the streets of the township’s suburbs had been dismantled as their foreign owners awaited further news about the Mamelodi march.

Social media was also soon awash with the rumours as concerned foreigners around Gauteng tried to verify the fears of the reported planned march in Pretoria.

“We have to start packing our bags. We can’t risk it,” a Zimbabwean foreigner living in Mamelodi was quoted in a news report about the march.

News of the march sparked fears of a repeat of similar attacks against foreigners in 2008, which left several immigrants dead and saw several others fleeing for their lives with their belongings.

A Mamelodi resident, Oupa Motshwene, who was listed as one of the organisers of the march and quoted by an organisation calling itself GroundUp, dismissed fears that the “march” was xenophobic and would therefore be violent. “This has got nothing to do with xenophobia. I don’t see why this should be a problem to anyone,” he was reported as saying.

Mildos Manganye, a 40-year-old Mozambican handyman who rents a backyard shack in Marimba Gardens, confirmed that the news of a march by Mamelodi residents against foreigners had him worried. “I immediately thought of the carnage xenophobia caused to my fellow countrymen in 2008″.

Jeanette Sibanda, a domestic worker from Zimbabwe who lives with her two young children, aged 10 and 16, at the Tsietsi informal settlement, south of Kathorus, refused to be photographed, citing fears of reprisals by unknown people for expressing her views in public. “I am not prepared to risk my life for a comment in the local newspaper. You won’t be there when I am attacked,” she said.

The SAPS spokesperson in Kathorus, Capt. Mega Ndobe, told Kathorus MAIL that the police were aware of the rumours about a march in Mamelodi. However, he dismissed any acts of violence being reported to the police regarding xenophobic attacks against foreigners.