Zimbabwean Migrants Displaced in South Africa

Zimbabwean migrants working in Cape Town have taken refuge in government buildings following attacks by the natives who have accused them of stealing their jobs.

The residents of De Doorns-an informal settlement-armed with stones and sticks on Tuesday morning, tore down makeshift homes belonging to Zimbabweans forcing them to leave. They claimed that local farmers were opting to employ them for less money, excluding the natives.

A violent confrontation earlier last week in a local pub saw some of the Zimbabweans flee the area seeking refuge in government buildings in fearing attacks from the natives.

Thousands of non South Africans were displaced and about 60 people died in the May 2008 xenophobic violence that erupted in Johannesburg spreading all over the country in claims of competing with the natives over the scarce resources.

Efforts by the local government officials and disaster managers to calm the locals down in a meeting on the eve of the violence were fruitless since attacks emerged the following day.

No injuries have been reported in the violence since police used rubber bullets to disperse the crowds that were demolishing the shacks at the informal settlements, as the Zimbabweans moved out with their belongings voluntarily.

Local authorities have given the displaced people temporal residence as they try to mediate talks with the natives to allow the Zimbabweans back into the community.

South Africa was hit hard by the global economic crunch with massive job losses. In the recent past rates of unemployment have escalated among the black South African community which mostly depends on its vast mines for employment. [ER].