admin
Polokwane — Limpopo police arrested eight people for looting foreign-owned shops in Thabazimbi, Colonel Ronel Otto said yesterday.
Four foreign-owned shops were looted and a tuck shop was set alight on Monday. The public order policing unit was deployed in the area to maintain peace. “We’re not going to tolerate any criminal behaviour, people must know that we will arrest and make sure that those charged will bid for them to be prosecuted,” said Otto.
Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha denied that these were xenophobic attacks, saying it was pure criminality. Those arrested will appear in the Thabazimbi Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on charges of public violence, house-breaking and possession of stolen property.
Meanwhile, more than 600 Malawi citizens have left South Africa for their home country after refusing to reintegrate into the local communities, more than three weeks after xenophobic attacks broke out in the city of Durban.
George Chilonga, deputy consul at Malawi’s consulate general, told Al Jazeera that 33 buses from the three camps of Isipingo, Chatsworth, and Phoenix had departed for Blantyre, Malawi on Tuesday.
“This is our third trip this week, and we still require an estimated 30 more buses to transport the remainder,” Chilonga said.
More than 1,500 Malawians have already gone home, authorities said. “By Wednesday the repatriation process would be complete,” Adam Ali, an NGO worker, said.
The Phoenix camp, north of Durban was closed on Tuesday and officials appear keen on closing the remaining three camps in Pietermaritzburg, Chatsworth, and Isipingo. But even as a calm descended over Durban and the surrounding areas after a week-long wave of feverish attacks on immigrants, foreign nationals say neither the intimidation nor the sporadic attacks have ended. — AFP
Online Reporter