Victim of earlier xenophobic violence in S. Africa © 2008 UNHCR / J. Oatway

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has condemned the recent spate of attacks on refugees and asylum-seekers, many of them from Zimbabwe, in the Western Cape town of De Doorns, South Africa. Local officials and the South African Red Cross moved quickly to supply some 3,000 displaced people with tents, portable toilets and hot meals. It was sending two officials from its Pretoria office to assist local officials to restore order, UNHCR said 20 November.

Earlier in the week local people attacked the refugees, accusing them of stealing their jobs by accepting lower wages in local vineyards. “After that they started to break our houses. We phoned the police but the police didn’t take action. They just stood there as people broke our houses and they stole our things,” one migrant told the BBC.

UN-registered foreigners have the right to live and work in South Africa but tensions often arise over scarce jobs. Increasingly, migrants have been the target of attacks in South Africa. In May 2009 more than 60 people died in violence against Zimbabwean and Mozambican immigrants.

UNHCR reports that the numbers of Zimbabweans crossing into South Africa has increased since the 2008 power-sharing agreement between the opposing sides in the Zimbabwean conflict, mainly due to increased political violence. At the end of 2008, UNHCR estimated there were 110,000 asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe in South Africa.

Links to other sites: BBC, VOA

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