Afrophobia: ‘Shut out and sent home’

31 10 2008
Pearlie Joubert
Oct 31 2008 at 13:27
Source: Mail & Guardian

Two foreign nationals were killed and a Congolese woman raped in townships in the Western Cape this week as the authorities prepared to close all the refugee camps on Friday. Services will be cut off to the 600 people who are still living in them.

But frantic last-minute negotiations between civil society groups and city officials, including Western Cape Premier Lynne Brown, were under way to halt the closure of the camps.

At the same time, the city, the Human Rights Commission and the United Nations were putting intensified pressure on foreign nationals to leave the camps and reintegrate themselves into society.

The Mail & Guardian has learned that after leaving the camps this week two foreigners were killed, in Hermanus and Parow, and that Congolese national Claudine Tuatu (not her real name) was raped in Khayelitsha’s Samora Machel settlement. Read the rest of this entry »





Media: Employ local people, say protesters

31 10 2008



Scores of protesters yesterday disrupted work at the construction site of the R350million “Guguletu Square” mall, demanding that the developers employ local residents.

The residents had earlier rejected a proposal by prominent local businessman and mall developer Mzoli Ngcawuzele that ANC ward councillors Andile Matshikiza and Belinda Landingwe choose the residents who will get jobs on the site.

Guguletu backyard dwellers leader Mcedisi Twalo said: “We don’t want interference by ward councilors and political parties in the job selection.”

Last week the local people marched on “Mzoli’s Place”, a restaurant owned by the same Ngcawuzele, calling on him to stop what they called “intimidation” against them.

This after Ngcawuzele had allegedly interrupted a community meeting and warned residents that former uMkhonto we Sizwe members were deployed at the development with security guards to prevent any form of protest that could delay construction.








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