Tag Archives: Xenophobic

Xenophobic attack: MTN apologises for poor network

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Telecommunication service provider, MTN, has appealed to its customers to bear with them concerning the poor network experienced for the past few days.

Although the reason for the poor network was not given, it’s likely that the attacks on MTN offices by Nigerians protesting xenophobic attacks of fellow citizens in South Africa may have been responsible.

The statement shared via its twitter account @MTN180 reads: “Dear customers we apologise for the difficulty you may be experiencing on our network.

“We are working hard to resolve it quickly.

“Please bear with us.”

NE reported the invasion of MTN Nigeria’s office in Abuja by a group of angry Nigerians protesting the continued Xenophobic attacks on their fellow citizens and other Africans in South Africa.

Also, Bayelsa State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Monday, uncovered plans by some persons to attack investments of MTN in the state as reprisal for ongoing attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

Xenophobic: SA Introduces Tough New Visa Regulations

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South Africa on Monday rolled out tough new visa regulations requiring children travelling into the country to carry unabridged birth certificates, a move that industry experts predict will badly damage the tourism sector. The revised regulations dictate that children of all nationals and foreigners must be accompanied by unabridged birth certificates in addition to their passports when entering or leaving the country.

The new regulations apply only to children travelling with one parent and those arriving from visa-exempt countries.  Government says the measure is aimed at curbing international child trafficking.

But the tourism industry, which contributes nine percent to the country’s GDP and employs around 1.5 million people, said the regulations were too cumbersome and would drive tourists away from South Africa.

The chamber of commerce said airlines were “doing all they can” to prepare travellers “but their efforts have been frustrated by bureaucratic bungling.” Citing official ticketing data, the Southern African Tourism Services Association (SATSA) said flight bookings to South Africa this June plunged 20 percent compared to the same period last year, a fall blamed partially on the new rules.

“Who is going to go to all this trouble to come on holiday to South Africa?” asked David Frost, the head of SATSA. “They would rather say let’s go to New Zealand, Mauritius or Puerto Rico, where they are more welcome.” Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said the legislation had come into effect without major problems.

“For the most part it’s going well, we haven’t had any issues out of the ordinary,” Tswete said. The tourism industry is considering taking legal action against government for loss of business. “We have been forced into a corner and we are large sector and we will not sit quietly in a corner and watch our industry being destroyed by heavy handed bureaucrats.”

Credit: AFP

South Africans Are Not Xenophobic- President Jacob Zuma

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President Jacob Zuma has pledged to tackle anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa and to address deep-rooted problems behind the attacks. “South Africans are not xenophobic,” he said Wednesday. “If we don’t deal with the underlying issues, it will come back.”

Zuma gave few details of government plans, but said the violence was driven by “criminal elements” as well as friction between foreigners and locals.

However, several thousand demonstrators marched through central Johannesburg on Thursday to protest against a spate of deadly attacks on immigrants, after further raids by the authorities on suspected gang hideouts.

Watched by police, crowds sang songs denouncing xenophobia and carried banners that read “We are all Africans” as migrant workers crowded balconies, shouting their support.

“This march sends an important message to the world, to Africans,” David Makhura, premier of Gauteng province of which Johannesburg is the capital, told the demonstrators. “We are going to defeat xenophobia like we defeated apartheid.

“We are here to make sure that South Africa is a country of peace for all.” Soldiers were deployed in Johannesburg this week to aid police in operations against hostels housing South African men who are accused of targeting migrants from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and other African countries.

Credit: vanguardngr

South Africa Finally Deploys Army To End Xenophobic Attacks; Foreigners Say They Were ‘Hunted Like Dogs

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NEARLY four months after the first attacks on foreign nationals, South Africa is deploying its army to end the wave of attacks on foreigners.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the troops would be deployed to Alexandra township, north of the main city Johannesburg, and in some areas of Durban.

“We are deploying because it is an emergency. The army will support police officers, who will take the lead in containing the violence, she said.

Tension has been high in the township since the killing of Malawian Emmanuel Sithole at the weekend, an attack that was captured in dramatic pictures at the weekend and which shocked the world.

Four men Tuesday appeared in court under heavy security, charged with Sithole’s killing.

Violence early this month saw at least seven people, the majority of them African nationals, raising tensions with other African countries several notches.

The latest round of attacks is widely linked to South African Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini who in comments at the end of March said foreign nationals must pack their bags and leave.

In a meeting hastily called on Monday and attended by an estimated 6,000 people, the monarch defended his view that his comments were misconstrued.

He condemned attacks on foreign nationals and said that immigrants must be protected, irrespective of their nationalities.

He was speaking stadium in the eastern port city of Durban, where the most recent attacks have concentrated.

“It may be a belated effort to demonstrate especially to other governments in Africa and people in South Africa that they are willing to make the hard decision to try and get to grips with what is happening,” Roland Henwood, a politics lecturer at University of Pretoria, told Bloomberg news service by phone.

Hunted like dogs

The deployment of the military comes as foreigners fleeing the xenophobic violence told AFP Tuesday of how they escaped marauding death mobs and vowed never to return to the country where they had sought a new life.

Holding her one-year-old daughter in her arms, Malawian Agnes Salanje said she “faced death” during the wave of anti-immigrant violence that has claimed at least seven lives.

“We could have been killed as these South Africans hunted for foreigners, going from door to door,” Salanje, who was a domestic worker in the Indian Ocean port city of Durban, told AFP.

Nearly 400 Malawian refugees arrived overnight in the city of Blantyre in the south of the country, where they were met by government ministers and officials.

The attacks on foreigners have sparked a wave of anger and protests against South Africa across the rest of the continent.

Salanje, who was paid $200 a month, said she escaped the attackers after being “tipped off by a good neighbour and we ran to a mosque to seek shelter.”

“I will not go back. It is better to be poor than be hunted like dogs because you are a foreigner,” she said.

“I lost everything. I only managed to grab a few clothes for myself and my baby Linda.”

Foreigners are often the focus of resentment among poor South Africans who face a chronic jobs shortage.

Chisomo Makiyi, 23, who worked at a clothes manufacturing factory in Durban, is still puzzled why they were attacked.

Be killed or go home

“Had I not run away to safety, I would not be here,” she said.

“I just don’t know why all of a sudden they start hating foreigners and giving them two choices—be killed or go home.”

Makiyi pledged to never return to South Africa despite “the good pay of $280 (a month) which back home would be a dream.”

On average, civil servants in Malawi get $100 per month while labourers receive only $50.

“My life is more important than a good salary,” she said. “I am better off being poor and without a good job than be killed in a foreign land.”

Meanwhile the United States on Monday condemned the xenophobic violence, calling on all South Africa’s leaders to take a stand against it.

“We have joined the South African government and civil society leaders in strongly condemning the violence against foreigners that’s been taking place,” said State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf.

She said the US was “deeply concerned” about the loss of lives and the impact on communities.

Source – Mgafrica.com

Multichoice Condemns Xenophobic Attacks In SA

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MultiChoice Africa, the continent’s premier pay-TV company, has described as appalling the violence being visited on foreigners in South Africa.

In a statement issued on April 16, MultiChoice Africa said those affected by the wave of anti-foreigner violence are brothers and sisters to their assailants.

This, the company said, is abominable and strongly condemnable.

It urged Africans to see themselves as one irrespective of differences in nationalities, traditions and religions because Africa’s potential is realisable only through unity.

“As a multicultural African organisation, we respect and embrace diversity, and all the different traditions and religions across the continent.

“This is demonstrated through our multinational staff complement, rich African programming and channels on both our DStv and GOtv platforms.

“Our condolences go to the families and friends of those who have been affected or lost their lives in these mindless and unforgivable acts of violence,” the statement said.

Xenophobic SA: Malawi Evacuates Their Own

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Malawi says it will repatriate its nationals from South Africa, following an upsurge in xenophobic violence. At least five foreigners, including a 14-year-old boy, have been killed in attacks in South Africa’s coastal city of Durban since last week.

Some foreign-owned shops in the main city Johannesburg have shut amid fears that the violence could spread. Zimbabwe has also condemned the attacks, blamed on locals who accuse foreigners of taking their jobs.

Tens of thousands of foreigners, mostly from other African states and Asia, have moved to South Africa since white-minority rule ended in 1994. At least 62 people died in xenophobic attacks that swept South Africa in 2008.

Credit: sunnewsonline