More than 10,000 foreigners have been displaced in the Cape Town area after xenophobic violence led them to leave their homes, Cape Town Disaster Management said on Saturday.
Spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said Disaster Management had accommodated about 10, 000 people since Thursday, but hundreds more were seeking shelter at police stations.
"We are providing food, blankets, mattresses and tents," Solomons-Johannes said.
Police reported that 200 people had been arrested on Friday night and Saturday morning throughout the Western Cape in connection with the attacks.
Superintendent Andre Traut said shops had been looted and foreigners were being evacuated from townships throughout the province.
Solomons-Johannes said buses were ready to evacuate people from the Cape Town central business district should the need arise.
Police nor Disaster Management knew of any major injuries or deaths.
Meanwhile, Gauteng police reported that townships surrounding Johannesburg had quietened down after two weeks of xenophobic violence in which at least 43 people lost their lives.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR on Friday estimated the number of displaced in South Africa at 17 000, adding that "a very large percentage" of these were Zimbabweans.
Official Mozambican media on Saturday reported that 15,000 Mozambicans living in South Africa had returned to their home country.
Cape Town foreigners were also contemplating going back to their countries of birth and Disaster Management was discussing with Home Affairs about assisting them do to do so.
However, any decisions on long-term solutions for the immigrants lay with Home Affairs, Solomon-Johannes said.
Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on May 15, four days after the first xenophobic mass-attacks in Alexandra, said a plan was in place to return all displaced people, foreign and South African, to their houses before the end of that week. - Sapa
Spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said Disaster Management had accommodated about 10, 000 people since Thursday, but hundreds more were seeking shelter at police stations.
"We are providing food, blankets, mattresses and tents," Solomons-Johannes said.
Police reported that 200 people had been arrested on Friday night and Saturday morning throughout the Western Cape in connection with the attacks.
| 'We are providing food, blankets, mattresses and tents' |
Solomons-Johannes said buses were ready to evacuate people from the Cape Town central business district should the need arise.
Police nor Disaster Management knew of any major injuries or deaths.
Meanwhile, Gauteng police reported that townships surrounding Johannesburg had quietened down after two weeks of xenophobic violence in which at least 43 people lost their lives.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR on Friday estimated the number of displaced in South Africa at 17 000, adding that "a very large percentage" of these were Zimbabweans.
Official Mozambican media on Saturday reported that 15,000 Mozambicans living in South Africa had returned to their home country.
Cape Town foreigners were also contemplating going back to their countries of birth and Disaster Management was discussing with Home Affairs about assisting them do to do so.
However, any decisions on long-term solutions for the immigrants lay with Home Affairs, Solomon-Johannes said.
Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on May 15, four days after the first xenophobic mass-attacks in Alexandra, said a plan was in place to return all displaced people, foreign and South African, to their houses before the end of that week. - Sapa
No comments:
Post a Comment