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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Five killed in South African clashes |
| 2006-01-09 |
| JOHANNESBURG: Five Zimbabweans were killed on Wednesday in clashes between South Africans and foreigners at a squatter settlement in the capital Pretoria, police said. Mounted Police reinforcements were sent to the Olivienhoutbosch (<--- can't believe they've not Zuluized that name yet) area after renewed violence erupted between South Africans and foreigners returning home after they fled an earlier outbreak of fighting there last week, police spokeswoman Katlego Mogale said. "A group of foreign nationals returned to the settlement after the Dec. 26 incident and were met with resistance from the locals. A fight erupted," Mogale said in a statement. "We have confirmed 5 dead and 11 seriously injured," she told Reuters by telephone from Pretoria. Public broadcaster SABC radio said Zimbabwean and Mozambique nationals were involved in the fighting against South Africans in the squatter settlement. It was not immediately clear how many people were involved in the violence, possibly a boatlaod, but calm had been restored and police patrols had been beefed up and sjamboks issued, Mogale said. More than a million Mozambicans and Zimbabweans have fled poverty in their own countries for South Africa, attracted by a booming economy and the prospect of jobs. Hundreds of thousands of others-from across Africa and countries such as Pakistan and India, have also found their way to Africa’s wealthiest nation. Many of the immigrants, without work or residency permits (geez, ID cards????? Wat?), are forced into a life of squalor in settlements where local South Africans resent their presence, accusing them of taking scarce jobs and depressing wages, fomenting crime, hate and discontent, etc. This headline could have read January 9, 1983 easily enough. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |