Army called in as South Africa death toll reaches 42 (Roundup)

May 21, 2008, 22:10 GMT

Commuters wait for taxi buses to ferry them to work as a relative calm settled over the Ramaphosa squatter camp scene of violent xenophobia attacks this week, Johannesburg, South Africa, 21 May 2008. EPA/KIM LUDBROOK

Johannesburg - The South African army was called in Wednesday to tackle a wave of xenophobic violence as police said the number killed had grown to 42.

The office of President Thabo Mbeki said he had responded to a police request and authorised military personnel to be used to counter the violence, still spreading after ten days.

Mbeki's green light followed calls by the opposition Democratic Alliance and aid agencies for the army to be sent in to help embattled police fight mobs that have chased 16,000 people, mostly African migrants, from their homes around Johannesburg.

Some ruling party politicians and a lawyers' association had, however, warned against immediate army involvement, warning of the threat to civil liberties.

The move comes as the violence spreads from the townships around Johannesburg to the southern city of Durban and amid growing political fingerpointing.

Over 100 people, whom police said came mostly from a workers' hostel, vandalized a Nigerian-owned bar in the city Tuesday, injuring several people and burning cars.

The minister for safety and security in KwaZulu-Natal province, where Durban is located, ruled out xenophobia as a motive for the attack, taking aim instead at the Inkatha Freedom Party (a predominantly Zulu party).

Cele and KwaZulu-Natal premier Sbu Ndebele both claimed that IFP members had attacked the tavern after attending a party meeting, remarks local IFP chairman Mntomuhle Khawula called 'irresponsible.'

The IFP has repeatedly rejected suggestions it has a hand in the attacks on foreigners that began on May 11 in Alexandra township north-east of Johannesburg and since spread to more than a dozen poor communities around Gauteng province.

The link with the IFP, which fought a bitter turf war with the ruling African National Congress in the early 1990s, has been made because hostel residents, in which the party traditionally has a strong following, have been involved in some of the attacks.

Essop Pahad, minister in the presidency and close confidant of President Thabo Mbeki, hinted white extremists could be behind the violence.

'We need to understand that xenophobia has historically been used by right-wing populist movements to mobilize particularly the lumpen proletariat against minority groups in society,' he said.

Although Johannesburg's townships and inner-city were mostly calm Wednesday frightened migrants were already starting to leave the country.

Local media reported that five buses had been sent to fetch Mozambican migrants taking refuge in one police station.

Abdulla Omar was waiting in line at Johannesburg's Park Station with his wife, three children and elderly parents for a bus to the Malawian capital Lilongwe.

After four years in South Africa the Malawian national, who is in South Africa on a study visa, was sending his family home out of fear for their safety.

'I feel bad but I don't have a choice,' the 32-year-old journalism student and part-time interpreter told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, standing amid a sea of bulging carrier bags and suitcases.

Mary, a Zimbabwean mother of three, had joined the queue for the bus to Harare. She had spent a month in Johannesburg looking for work to pay her daughter's college fees.

'But then this havoc started. I'm afraid now,' said Mary, who fled attacks in Tembisa township.

The violence by poor South Africans accusing migrants of taking their jobs and aggravating crime levels has raised fears for the country's booming tourist industry.

The German Foreign Ministry has issued an advisory to travellers to South Africa to avoid central Johannesburg and outlying townships, while and world football body FIFA has also expressed concern at events in the 2010 World Cup host nation.

Dennis van der Merwe, owner of Time Out in Africa travel agency, which organizes township tours, said his business was down around 10 per cent after several customers had cancelled their Soweto tour - although Soweto has been spared in the flare-up.

South Africa is home to millions of illegal African migrants, who flock to the continent's biggest economy in search of work. Between 1 and 3 million Zimbabweans alone have fled hardship at home to South Africa in recent years.