South African police said Tuesday they were investigating the killing of a foreign national in the southeastern town of Pietermaritzburg, where hundreds of Malawians flocked for repatriation due to fears of xenophobic attacks.
South Africa, one of the continent’s largest economies, has been on edge following weeks of sometimes violent protests against undocumented migrants that have left at least two foreign nationals dead.
A 29-year-old Malawian was attacked and died after a protest in Pietermaritzburg on Friday, a local councillor told AFP.
“His family identified him, he is a Malawian national,” said councillor Suraya Reddy.
Police, however, said they could not give the man’s nationality until “authorities from his own country” had been informed.
Tensions have been rising after small citizen-led groups issued an unofficial demand for undocumented migrants — whom they accuse of taking jobs and resources from locals — to leave South Africa by June 30.
The police said two people from Mozambique were killed late last month “during activities associated with anti-foreigner demonstrations” in the southern town of Mossel Bay.
The ultimatum for undocumented foreign nationals to leave has no legal backing but has already led thousands of people from other African nations including Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi and Mozambique to flee.
– More arriving, leaving –
The Malawian government also said it was investigating reports that one of its citizens had been killed.
South African police said a mob had attacked the man who escaped but then “slipped into the river”.
“He was found on the riverbend with a cut on the head and injuries on the mouth,” a police statement said, adding they were treating it as murder but were investigating the circumstances.
Hundreds of Malawians have gathered since at a centre in Pietermaritzburg, which is in KwaZulu-Natal province, asking to be repatriated, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
Several hundred Malawians and other foreign nationals were camping out in the port city of Durban about 80 kilometres (50 miles) away, waiting for repatriation.
More arrived on Tuesday in e-hailing vehicles, taxis and vans, including women and young children carrying huge bags and other belongings that they could salvage.
Malawi’s government has repatriated about 3,000 of its nationals and others have returned home using their own means, disaster authority commissioner Wilson Moleni told AFP.
Forty buses provided by the South African government were en route, carrying about 2,000 people, he said.
Authorities were concerned about an apparent surge in the number of people seeking assistance as June 30 approached, Moleni said, with people still arriving at sites in Durban.
“We are all Africans and from time to time we will need each other,” said a leader of the displaced Malawian community in Durban, Adam Ali.
“You guys have said you don’t want foreigners here and people are leaving voluntarily, they want to go home,” he told AFP. “But why attack them, why kill them if they are willing to leave.”
– Heightened security –
Police said they will boost deployments nationwide ahead of the June 30 deadline, when groups wanting illegal migrants to leave have vowed to take to the streets.
They want to prevent a repeat of July 2021 unrest when more than 300 people lost their lives after former president Jacob Zuma was briefly imprisoned.
The latest tensions come ahead of local government elections scheduled for November 4.
Past flare-ups of violence targeting undocumented foreign nationals have been deadly, with 62 people killed in riots in 2008.
Violence in 2019 saw armed mobs descend on foreign-owned businesses around Johannesburg, leaving at least 12 people dead — 10 of them South African citizens.
On Tuesday, acting police minister Firoz Cachalia told reporters: “We are not going to tolerate lawlessness. We’re not going to tolerate any efforts to destroy our infrastructure.”
By AFP
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