Mozambique says five nationals killed in South Africa

The Mozambique government said five of its nationals were killed in xenophobic attacks in South Africa over the weekend, while South African police confirmed only two deaths.

The killings occurred in the southern coastal town of Mossel Bay, about 380 kilometres east of Cape Town. They are the first to be officially linked to the latest wave of protests against undocumented migrants sweeping South Africa.

Mozambique’s government said in a statement late Monday that violence broke out on Friday. It said seven Mozambican citizens died: five as a direct consequence of xenophobic attacks and two in a road accident while travelling back to Mozambique.

South African police gave a different account. Western Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said only two Mozambican nationals were killed in the Asla Park informal settlement outside Mossel Bay on Friday evening, a 27-year-old and a 43-year-old. She declined to say whether they died in anti-migrant violence.

Local media reported that a protest in Asla Park escalated on Friday, leading to several houses being burned and hundreds of people being displaced.

Mozambique said the violence prompted 300 of its nationals to return home on their own. Another 500 have been sheltered in a safe location in Western Cape province, and repatriation was underway as of June 1.

Mossel Bay mayor Dirk Kotze expressed deep concern over the attacks, saying people had been murdered, houses burned, and families displaced.

South Africa has experienced repeated waves of xenophobic violence. In 2008, 62 people were killed in anti-immigrant riots.

SOURCE: AFP