Xenophobic attacks: 'I'm not here to take anyone's job'

A stunned Congolese man was left bewildered when a mob attacked him and destroyed a makeshift camp alongside WF Nkomo Street.

He had come to South Africa to attend a church service at the Tshwane Events Centre in Pretoria West.

His status as a foreigner was his only sin, as well as being on the route armed Atteridgeville residents used to get to the city centre to voice their anti-immigrant sentiments.

"I have not done anything to anyone. I am here to attend church. I am not here to take anybody's job or to commit any form of crime.

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"Unless attending church is a crime," he said.

He and other pilgrims from Malawi and Zimbabwe who had been camping outside the Tshwane Events Centre ran for cover when about 1,000 angry Atteridgeville residents armed with sticks and iron bars approached the venue.

They ransacked the camp, in the process destroying tents and other forms of makeshift shelter, and overturned mobile kitchens from which vendors sold food to the pilgrims.

Resident Abel Molefe couldn't buy bread for his children in Atteridgeville on the morning of the march because most of the shops in the township are run by Somalis and Pakistanis, who kept their spazas closed in anticipation of violence.

"My children have no bread. They cannot go to school because the roads have been blocked with burning tyres. People are running around with sticks and bricks, destroying road signs.

"I am wondering, are the road signs also involved in crime?" asked Molefe.

The marchers proceeded to Pretoria, proclaiming that immigrants were destroying South Africa with drugs, crime and prostitution. They demanded that immigrants leave because they benefited from economic opportunities at the expense of South Africans.

Chris Ndlovu, who lives in Pretoria and has been unemployed since last year, said he took issue with immigrants taking less money for work.

"You get these Zimbabweans and people from Malawi, and they'll work longer hours for less money. People will want to hire them instead because it's cheaper," he said.

"In a sense, they are taking our jobs," he added.

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Ndlovu, like others who marched on Friday, said he was also against the spread of drugs and prostitution among the youth, for which he blamed foreigners.

"The country is going. The young kids are leaving schools because of this thing. Drugs are a big problem in our country, and then we can't even get employed," he said.

Ndlovu was nowhere to be found when at least 20 marchers were cornered and apprehended by police.

Ironically, police found dozens of needles, as well as boxes and packets filled with drugs, on the marchers who they loaded into the back of a van.

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Later in the day, a few South Africans gathered on a narrow, dirt road near a taxi rank in Pretoria Central and accused Somalis at a grocery shop of supplying drugs to teens.

Ingrid Motshweni, who was part of the crowd, said residents had grown tired of the police being bribed, and seeing a drug dealer being arrested and back on the streets the next day.

"The kids are sleepwalking because of the drugs," she said.

Motshweni said if the police were paid better, they would do a better job.

Mohamed Maalin-Yusuf, 26, who has been living in South Africa since 2012, said he was disgusted and disappointed by what he saw on Friday.

"This is now the second time I've experienced something like this. The last time was in 2015 when they also attacked us. I'm feeling scared. These people are inhumane. They'll kill you for your stock," he said.

Police said 136 people were arrested for looting and damaging property on Friday and were scheduled to appear in court tomorrow.

An eerie calm returned to the area yesterday.