Zimbabwean refugees, living in South Africa after fleeing the political troubles at home are again under attack by a wave of South African xenophobic orientated riots.
The rioters are fuelled by failure to improve the living of those at the bottom of the South African social pyramid, as 40 percent of the population is worse of than they were under apartheid.
The UK Times reported Tuesday: “The wrath of the country’s teeming townships has been sparked by the belief that “foreigners” are stealing locals’ jobs and fuelling the country’s sky-high crime rates.”
This is though the paradox, as it has not been that long since South African’s themselves needed help under their own crucial regime, when the apartheid was at the forefront of systematical abuse and human rights violations. And the riots are now becoming an embarrassment for the government which is accused of “not having a faintest idea what is happening”, and for the failure of the crumbling school and health system.
So far at least 22 people have been killed in the troubles that surfaced in Johannesburg last Wednesday. Many more has been taken to hospital for gun shots and stab wounds and people are burned and raped.
Jody Kollapen, chairman of the South African Human Rights Commission said: “The feelings of hatred that are coming out at this level take us back to the horrible days of apartheid.”
One of the young rioters said: “It is unfortunate that people got killed… But they had to go. They do not belong here taking jobs. Let them go back to Zimbabwe and solve their own problems instead of bringing them here. We have enough problems of our own.”
This doesn’t leave the Zimbabwean people with many options as their suffering seems to be endless. One 24 year old Zimbabwean refuge told the BBC: “It’s better to starve at home than to die here. At least, if I’m back in Zimbabwe, my parents can bury me and see my grave.”
