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Showing posts from May, 2008

Who did you call a racist?

Where does Racism stop? S Africa violence: 'Screams haunt me' Several thousand foreigners have fled South Africa after days of violent attacks by angry mobs. Among them are many Zimbabweans who prefer to risk the violence there than stay in South Africa. Thabiso, a 36 year-old Zimbabwean woman, had to flee the township of Thembisa near Johannesburg, after a series of xenophobic attacks. I was awoken by the sound of screaming on Monday. I realised they had set alight a shack belonging to a Mozambican immigrant. He tried to escape the fire. But the residents were armed with all sorts of traditional weapons and AK-47 rifles. They shouted: "Umbambe engabaleki", which means "Don't let him run away" in Zulu. They threw a brick at his head and he fell down. The mob caught up with him, doused him with petrol and threw him back into the burning shack. The screams of the burning Mozambican still haunt me. When I close my eyes to try to sleep, I see the man scream