On Special Assignment this Tuesday:
Episode Title: Hambani Makwere - Kwere (Go Away Foreigners)
Date: Tuesday, 20 May, 2008
Time: 21h30
Channel: SABC 3
The official toll of the violence in Alexandra is bleak. At the time of this release (Wednesday, 14 May) 61 people had been arrested, 4 cases of rape were reported , 3 people were dead and 1000 people were sheltered in the police station. Since then the figures have gone up.
It paints a horrifying picture of a breakdown in tolerance for especially African immigrants amongst South Africans.
The attacks against foreigners in Alexandra are the latest in outbreaks of xenophobia that have wreaked havoc in townships across South Africa . Two years ago Somalis traders were burnt and their shops looted in the Eastern and Western Cape . Informal businesses owned by Mozambicans in Witbank were also targeted. Recently residents of Atteridgeville burnt the homes of foreigners.
The events in Alexandra are part of a rising trend in violence against refugees or illegal immigrants.
It is hard to separate a community within a community, so ordinary South Africans have been caught in the cross-fire. Attacked and destitute, they have been mistaken as foreigners, or else put under fire for being sympathisers.
This week’s in a Special Report, Special Assignment goes to the heart of the problem. On both sides we see people trying to make a better life for themselves, thrown into conflict by poverty and frustrated dreams.
The idea that foreigners are taking resources that rightfully belong to South Africans is deeply entrenched. Angry mobs armed with pangas, sticks and golf clubs are determined to drive foreigners out. “Hambani Makwerekwere” (Go away foreigners) is their war cry.
The report is written and produced by: Sasha Wales-Smith.
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