More than 3,500 foreigners, an estimated 1,500 of them Zimbabweans, remained Wednesday in a temporary shelter near the police station in the Western Cape farm town of De Doorns following an outbreak of xenophobic violence against them in a nearby squatter camp in which a number of homes were destroyed by locals over perceived job competition.
From Johannesburg, VOA Studio 7 correspondent Benedict Nhlapho reported on the latest episode of violence against immigrants and reactions by Zimbabweans there.
In 2008 more than 60 people died in a wave of xenophobic violence aimed at Zimbabweans and other foreigners in Johannesburg and other cities.
An organization helping the displaced in De Doorns, called People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty or Passop, said the Congress of South African Trade Unions has intervened and urged the displaced farm workers to go back to work saying it will look into working conditions to ensure farm workers are treated equitably.
Passop Coordinator Braam Hannekom told VOA Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere that the displaced in De Doorns are receiving a lot of help from non-governmental organizations.
