Johannesburg - Immigrants fleeing a wave of deadly xenophobic violence in South Africa have described how fear drove them to try to hide their nationalities even before the attacks began.
"When we're taking taxis, we switch off our phones and avoid speaking in our mother tongues," said Congolese hairdresser Aimee Bebedi, who is based in the eastern port city of Durban, where the violence erupted three weeks ago.
"At the moment we're being attacked by our Zulu brothers, but even before that, if you went to the hospital, for example, and tried to explain yourself in English, you were mistreated," she said.
Foreigners from other parts of Africa living and working in South Africa's poor townships are called 'kwerekwere', a slur mocking their languages and accents.
At least seven people have died in the violence and thousands have been forced to flee their homes. Many have returned to their own countries -- such as Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique -- but others are sheltering in special camps.
There, they are trying to decide whether it is safe to return to their lives in a country where they can feel unwelcome even at the best of times.
"They tell us the violence is over, but I don't know," said Patrick, a Congolese asylum seeker who fled to Johannesburg after the attacks flared up in Durban.
"It's calm now because the police are there, but what about when they leave?"
Patrick is one of about 50 displaced foreigners staying in tents in a small charity-run camp in Johannesburg's Mayfair suburb.
The attacks have been blamed largely on a speech by Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini, who last month accused foreigners of causing South Africa's high crime rate.
But it's a vilification that immigrants face on a daily basis, said Braam Hanekom, director of Passop (People against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty), a Cape Town charity that supports asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants.
"That demonization goes a long way to creating an environment where such senseless targeted attacks occur," he said.
AFP
