Jacob Zuma vows to end racist attacks in South Africa

South African president Jacob Zuma promises to end xenophobic attacks during a visit of a refugee camp in Durban following fresh outbreak of violence against foreigners in the area

South African President Jacob Zuma vows to end xenophobic attacks in the country
South African President Jacob Zuma vows to end xenophobic attacks in the country

International media reports that South African President Jacob Zuma has visited a refugee camp in the port city of Durban after a fresh outbreak of anti-foreigner violence.  Zuma told those who had fled the violence that it went against South African values and that he would bring it to an end.

Some in the crowd reportedly jeered at him and accused him of acting too slowly with at least six people dying in xenophobic attacks in Durban, while violence keeps spreading to other areas.

Migrants, mostly from other African states and Asia, have moved to South Africa in large numbers since white-minority rule ended in 1994, but many South Africans accuse them of taking jobs in a country where the unemployment rate is at 24%.

In a statement, Zuma said that these attacks went against everything they believed in.

“The majority of South Africans love peace and good relations with their brothers and sisters in the continent,” the statement read

During his visit at the refugee camp in the Chatsworth area of Durban - after cancelling a trip to Indonesia - Zuma said in a televised speech: "We are certainly going to stop the violence."

Addressing migrants who were planning to return to their home countries, he said: "Those who want to go home, when the violence stops you are welcome to return."

Zuma added that it was a minority that was causing trouble, but the BBC reports that he was booed by some in the crowd who branded his visit as too little, too late, adding that they were planning to leave South Africa altogether.

Police have arrested 150 people for public-order related offences during the anti-immigration violence in the past fortnight, while several thousand foreigners have fled their homes to shelter in makeshift camps, and neighbouring Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique have announced plans to evacuate citizens.

On Saturday, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, speaking as chair of the Southern African Development Community and African Union, said that he wanted to express a sense of shock, disgust, as abhorrence to the incidences that happened in Durban.

Small groups also reportedly attacked shops in several areas around Johannesburg on Saturday. The police used rubber bullets to disperse looters in Alexandra, a township north of the city, with more than 30 people arrested.

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has been accused of fuelling the attacks by saying that foreigners should "go back to their countries”, but he insists his comments were distorted.

Official data suggests there are about two million foreign nationals in South Africa which makes up about 4% of the total population, however, some estimates put the number of immigrants at five million.