African migrants flee into the mountains as South Africa’s xenophobic violence surges
Four days ago, Mozambican immigrant Lado Amido answered a knock at his door in the South African town of Kleinmond. Outside, an angry crowd told him foreigners such as him had to leave. They went door-to-door delivering the same message.
Amido fled and spent two nights in the mountains. Now he is sheltering in a local town hall, like other immigrants from Malawi and Mozambique across South Africa’s Western Cape province, forced to hide from anti-immigrant mobs in several coastal towns.
South Africa has seen a wave of anti-immigrant protests, which have sometimes turned violent, in recent weeks. Mozambique said five of its citizens were killed in xenophobic attacks in the town of Mossel Bay over the weekend.
Amido lives in Kleinmond, about 300 km (186 miles) away.
“On the 31st, people came to my house, knocked on the door, and then took all my belongings,” said the 49-year-old, who had been in South Africa since February looking for work.
In Kleinmond town hall he is with about 100 other immigrants, some of whom are hoping to join voluntary repatriation programmes set up by their governments.
IMMIGRANTS BLAMED FOR ECONOMIC WOES
Xenophobic attacks are a recurring problem in South Africa, where immigrants are often blamed for economic woes such as high unemployment and crime.
Despite the absence of any evidence for this claim, politicians from nearly all parties have tended to lend it credence in an effort to score populist votes ahead of elections, such as the local polls coming up at year end.
“As we work to build a safer … and more prosperous society, we need to address the challenge of migration,” President Cyril Ramaphosa told parliament on Tuesday, while also condemning recent xenophobic violence.
Grant Cohen, a ward councillor for Kleinmond, said that immigration authorities had visited the town in recent weeks to check restaurants and other businesses for undocumented workers.
But many of the immigrants sheltering at the town hall are in the country legally, he told Reuters.
“We’ve got kids here at the moment who should be in school, who have been in school in Kleinmond… (but) now want to flee the country out of fear and intimidation,” said Cohen.
“I don’t believe that residents should take things into their own hands.”
SOME PROTESTERS ARMED WITH KNIVES AND STICKS
Michael Markson, a 31-year-old from Malawi, said he spent one night sleeping in the mountains after fleeing the informal settlement where he had lived for about a year on Saturday.
“My landlord came telling me that I should evacuate because if they find us, they’re going to kill us,” he said.
The next day, one of his friends called his boss, who brought them food as they hid in the woods.
Markson said he was close enough to see a large crowd of protesters in town, some carrying knives and sticks.
Now he is waiting for assistance to travel home, which he can’t afford.
“In our country there’s no-good economy… (but) it’s better than living in a community where your life is under threat.”
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