SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
At least five people have been killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes in one of South Africa’s worst outbreaks of xenophobic violence in years. Some South Africans have accused immigrants of taking jobs and opportunities away from them. The latest violence followed reported comments by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, an influential figure among the Zulu ethnic group, that foreigners should “pack their bags” and leave. The king has since appealed for an end to the unrest. This has resulted in hundreds of African migrants leaving South Africa in fear for their lives. There is no doubt these attacks have severely tarnished the image of what is one of the most successful economies in Africa. It is because of the promise of a better life and more prosperity that many people from other, lesser-developed African nations have been flocking to South Africa. That welcome mat no longer seems to exist. The rising hate and discrimination have seen to that. In 2012 alone, 238 incidents of violence against foreign nationals were reported, with 120 people killed, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. An estimated 7,500 foreign nationals were displaced that year.
The violence against immigrants is “an expression of a terrible failure of memory by South Africans” who endured racial intolerance under apartheid, two South African foundations said. The foundations are named after anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, who died in 2013, and Ahmed Kathrada, another campaigner against the white racist rule that ended in 1994.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
