JOHANNESBURG – The Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has announced that the South African National Defence Force (Sandf) will be deployed to Alexandra to deal with the xenophobic attacks. The army has been seen arriving this afternoon. It’s understood the soldiers will conduct a walkabout from 6pm. She says if we allow the attacks to continue, it will soon affect schools and hospitals. “Those people are vulnerable. We are not here to take over the job of police.” Mapisa-Nqakula says government has made the decision to bring in the army into Alexandra to take “back the authority “of the state. She says the Sandf soldiers will not replace the police, but work together to end the violence. Government says they were informed that another foreign national couple was attacked by locals in Alexandra last night. The defence minister says it’s only a small group of people who are plotting these attacks trying to discredit the country. Just last night a Zimbabwean couple was attacked by locals both were shot and wounded and taken to hospital. Government have not said how many troops will be deployed to Alex and other hotspots around the country. The decision to deploy the army will be tabled in Parliament within seven days. Three weeks ago xenophobic attacks flared up in KwaZulu-Natal and then the violence quickly spread to the Gauteng province. Seven people have died due to the violence, this excludes the death of Emmanuel Sithole, a Mozambican national, who succumbed to his stab wounds after he was attacked in Alexandra at the weekend. Authorities say 307 people have been arrested with regard to the recent xenophobic attacks in the country. MK REMINDS SA OF FREEDOM CHARTER Meanwhile, the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association pleaded with South Africans to open their hearts and start treating fellow Africans in the manner they themselves were treated while fighting for freedom. Speaking at Luthuli House, MK chair, Kebby Maphatsoe labelled the latest outbreak of violence “barbaric”. Maphatsoe said the xenophobic attacks were a betrayal of the principal of the Freedom Charter. Mk veteran Lucky Magina said he was heartbroken and embarrassed when he remembered how MK members were treated during the struggle days. “We went to these countries not knowing anybody and some of the people became our fathers and mothers.” Both Maphatsoe and Magina described how they lived side-by-side with communities in neighbouring countries without fear of being victimised because of their origins. ZIM WOMAN’S HORRIFIC DEATH BLAMED ON XENOPHOBIA A Zimbabwean family is claiming a relative was killed and decapitated in the recent wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa. The family in Harare says 41-year-old Naume Garusa had been living and working legally in South Africa for 13 years. Her body is expected back in Harare today. Family members told the state-run Herald newspaper that they think she was killed and decapitated in a xenophobic attack near Houghton as she returned home from work last week. Police in Gauteng have confirmed they found the body of the Zimbabwean woman dumped in Killarney on Tuesday, but a spokesperson says police don’t think the murder was related to the xenophobic violence. Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa Isaac Moyo has told official media that the body of a Zimbabwean man, killed in the Durban attacks, is due to be sent home soon.
