Link Press
Xenophobia fear seems to be spreading quite fast in South Africa and Hon. Naisula Lesuuda has joined the group of leaders who have spoken against the vice which has caught Africa by surprise. Naisula states that she is so saddened and can’t comprehend why someone would go to the extent of burning another including children.
I am deeply saddened by the news coming from South Africa on Xenophobic attacks against foreigners.
It’s beyond anything I can ever comprehend; to see people being burnt alive #XenophobicSA replicable to the shooting innocent students in the Garissa University attack #147NotJustANumber
I couldn’t get myself to finish watching clips of #XenophobicSA Why ooh why? Burning innocent children alive…like what jobs did they take that you deserved?
Shame #XenophobicSA
Immigrants are blamed for taking jobs and opprtunities from locals. Many of them have been forced to close their shops.
Reported comments by the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini – that foreigners should “pack their bags” and leave – are thought to have stoked the fires of hatred. Many of those rioting were heard chanting “the king has spoken”, reports channel 4.
In one video a group of migrants are rounded up and burnt alive – including a child. In another a man is dragged on the streets naked and then stoned.
Some migrants are too scared to go out, and others have armed themselves trying to protect their livelihoods.
The government has refused to categorise these attack as xenophobic, instead warning against spreading false information.
This is seen as a terrible tragedy of memory by South Africans who endured racial intolerance under apartheid. Africans, who supported the country’s liberation, are being rewarded with beatings and burnings.
