A demonstration against migrant workers outside a hostel in Johannesburg. Photograph: Marco Longari/Getty South Africa is facing a backlash from the rest of the continent over the targeting of immigrants in a wave of xenophobic violence.
South African vehicles were pelted with stones in Mozambique on Friday and South African companies are reportedly being threatened with closure in Nigeria. Protests have been held at various South African embassies across the continent, and several South African musicians have been forced to cancel concerts abroad.
The tit-for-tat measures follow a surge of attacks on foreigners in Durban, Johannesburg and other parts of South Africa , in which at least six people have been killed, more than 5,000 displaced, and shops looted and razed. Most of those affected “are refugees and asylum seekers who were forced to leave their countries due to war and persecution”, the UN high commissioner for refugees said.
President Jacob Zuma on Saturday cancelled a state visit to Indonesia to deal with the crisis and visit one of the camps in the Durban suburb of Chatsworth, where more than a thousand foreign nationals are sleeping in tents and relying on volunteers for food . Many were boarding buses to return to […]