No justice for xeno victims
Many of the foreigners are still displaced and living in constant fear. The Northglen News met with several foreigners who work within the Durban North area to find out how they have been coping since the attacks.
IT has been four months since xenophobic violence rocked the nation. Seven people were brutally killed during the attacks in April, but to date authorities have failed to confirm a single prosecution.
Meanwhile, many of the foreigners are still displaced and living in constant fear. What’s more, a Camperdown family, who has provided refuge for foreigners at their farm outside of Pietermaritzburg, has been ordered to evict the 140 foreign nationals or face legal action.
In light of the incident, which has garnered outrage from the public, the Northglen News met with several foreigners who work within the Durban North area to find out how they have been coping since the attacks.
Andrew*, who was one of the thousands to suffer an attack during the xenophobic onslaught, said his wounds were healing well, but he still suffers nightmares. He shuffled uneasily as he recalled how hundreds of locals surrounded him at the Durban Central Station and attacked him with all manner of objects, including pipes and hammers.
He suffered broken ribs and a concussion. James* was forced to separate from his family. Through the assistance of his employer, a Durban North resident, he was able to send his wife and three-year-old son home to Zimbabwe. “It is difficult. I don’t know when I will see my son again. I miss my family, but they are safer there. We fear that there will be more attacks. But here I have opportunities to find work. I have to take the risk,” he said.
*S’bu, who witnessed some of the attacks at the Durban Central Station said he and other refugees did not hate the locals for the attack. “We are angry at the government. They don’t make it easy for us to become citizens. We cannot get documents to work or legally stay in the county, so we find work wherever we can and dodge the authorities as well as locals,” he said. *Names have been changed.
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