South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Thursday revealed that
at least 10 persons have been killed, two of them foreigners, in a wave
of xenophobic riots and attacks in the country.
Ramaphosa stated this in a televised address in Johannesburg.
According to the South African leader, “Over the past few days, our
country has been deeply traumatised and troubled by acts of violence and
criminality directed against foreign nationals and our own citizens.
“People have lost their lives, families have been traumatised … We
know that at least 10 people have been killed in the violence. Two of
whom were foreign nationals.”
Police in the country have arrested over 80 people and confirmed five
deaths as riots in Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria intensified on
Tuesday.
The latest wave of crisis in the country has raised fears of a
recurrence of violence aimed at foreigners in 2015 in which at least
seven people were killed.
High unemployment and widespread poverty have been cited as possible
triggers for the recent disturbances and attacks on immigrants, but some
officials say the riots might be the work of criminal syndicates.
“We can’t rule out pure criminality of criminals using a sensitive
situation where there are real grievances on issues of unemployment and
foreign nationals,” police minister Bheki Cele said.
Cele confirmed five people had been killed in the three days of
rioting, but did not give further details on the circumstances or on
arrests.
The Premier of Gauteng province, David Makhura, said during an
inspection of the damage in Alexandra that there was a “xenophobic
sentiment” underlying the attacks.
Ramaphosa condemned the violence, saying in a video posted on Twitter
that “attacking businesses run by foreign nationals is totally
unacceptable”.
Immigration to South Africa from across the continent and from parts
of southeast Asia picked up in the early 1990s, spurred by the end of
apartheid rule and the economic boom that followed.