Nelson Mandela’s widow has hit out at the South African government’s handling of the xenophobia crisis, suggesting it was playing down the scale of attacks on foreigners.
Graca Machel, a Mozambican by birth, said that unless economic opportunities were provided by governments both in South Africa, the regional powerhouse, and surrounding countries, anti-foreigner attacks would continue to happen.
She was speaking at a memorial service held for Emmanuel Sithole, a Mozambican man whose violent death at the hands of a gang in a Johannesburg township was captured by a photographer and printed on the front page of a Sunday newspaper, sparking outrage around the country.
Men suspected of killing Emmanuel Sithole are arraigned at the Wynberg Magistrate Court in Johannesburg (AFP/Getty)
The government has refused to add Mr Sithole’s death to the list of seven people it said had died in weeks of xenophobic violence.
Jacob Zuma, the South African president, instead classified it as a “callous robbery”, adding that Mr Sithole was an illegal immigrant who used a false name to avoid detection by the authorities.
Mrs Machel rejected the claim, telling mourners at Mr Sithole’s memorial service: “Yes, these attacks are xenophobic and they have to be dealt with like that.”
Describing herself as “one of the most visible faces of a foreigner in South Africa”, she went on: “I want to say to Emmanuel: ‘I am sorry my son you had to hide your identity and adopt another for survival’.
“I want to say that you have become a symbol of what must not happen again. Your life was not wasted.” Her comments are likely to add fuel to claims that the government has “suppressed” the numbers of people killed in the anti-foreigner attacks that began in the coastal city of Durban at the beginning of this month.
Demonstrators hold placards outside a court in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township (Reuters)
The government this week identified the seven killed in xenophobic violence as three South Africans, one Ethiopian, one Bangladeshi, one Mozambican and one Zimbabwean. The presidency said in a statement that the delay in naming the victims was due to “careful management of this difficult and painful process”.
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But other potential cases have been raised by doctors treating victims in hospitals and from accounts given by some of the thousands of foreigners driven into transit camps by the violence.
The Malawian authorities have named at least two people they say were killed in the clashes, while Zimbabwe’s information minister said migrants returning home told of unreported deaths.
“Some of SA’s victims of xenophobic attacks repatriated to Zim say number of the dead & unidentified in mortuaries is being suppressed. Sad!” Jonathan Moyo wrote.
Mr Moyo also accused Mr Zuma of “Afrophobia” and justifying the violence in a speech he gave on Monday marking the anniversary of South Africa’s first democratic elections.
The South African president called for improvements in regional trade so that “brothers and sisters will eventually no longer need to leave their countries in search of a better life”.
Just weeks after toasting Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, with champagne as he paid a state visit to South Africa, Mr Zuma also hinted at the troubled human rights record of neighbouring countries, saying: “We cannot shy away from discussing the reasons that forced migrants to flee to SA, all of us need to handle our citizens with care.”
Mr Moyo responded: “It comes across as an unfortunate justification of the gruesome xenophobic attacks even if unintentionally so!”
– “telegraph”