Zeerust residents target foreigners after rape allegation

source: Daily Maverick

A woman’s alleged rape on Sunday, 5 November triggered a spate of xenophobic violence in North West, where locals accused foreigners of the crime without evidence.

A Congolese man, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Maverick that he and his fellow countrymen were living in fear and needed urgent help.

He said that after the rape allegation, a mob of locals attacked the leader of the Congolese community and his pregnant wife at their home.

“They stripped them naked, poured water on them and hit them with stones, bricks and sticks. They injured them badly. The police were there but they did nothing. Some of them were even laughing,” he said.

He said that since then, the locals have been roaming the streets looking for foreigners to assault.

“We tried to report to the police, but they turned us away. They don’t want to help us. They want these people to kill us,” he said.

A local pastor, who also asked not to be named for safety reasons, said he attended a meeting at the police station on Wednesday with officials from Home Affairs, the municipality, the taxi association and the station commander.

He said they raised their concerns and challenges as foreigners and expressed their disappointment with the police’s lack of action.

“We told them that this thing is happening repeatedly. It happened in 2018, and it is happening again. Some people are attacked just for being Congolese. They will undress you, pour water on you and whip you with plastic cords,” he said.

He said that on Tuesday night, a young man was tied to an electric pole and almost set alight by the locals.

“Three of our people were injured in that rescue. The situation is not good at all. The police officer on duty said they can’t do anything because the community is angry and they are outnumbered,” he said.

He said that there were no local community representatives at the meeting.

“They said they don’t want to come to the police because they have come many times and they don’t get help. They have decided to do things their own way,” he said.

The North West police spokesperson, Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone, confirmed that there were “sporadic” attacks on Congolese nationals, starting from Sunday.

He said that cases of assault, attempted murder and malicious damage to property had been opened, but no arrests had been made yet.

He said that the police were investigating the rape allegation, and the identity of the suspect was unknown.

He appealed to the public to refrain from taking the law into their own hands and to cooperate with the police.