JOHANNESBURG – Two Mozambican nationals were killed and two others hospitalised in xenophobic violence near Johannesburg this week, the Mozambican government confirmed on Thursday.
The incident occurred on Tuesday at an informal settlement in Germiston, where gunmen also killed a South African national before fleeing with mobile phones and a tablet computer.
South African police said they were investigating the deadly shooting and robbery, but could not confirm the nationalities of those involved.
“Determining the motive for the attack forms part of the investigation,” a police spokeswoman told AFP on Friday.
The Mozambican government issued a statement late Thursday titled “Xenophobia in South Africa”, detailing the violence that left two of its citizens dead and two others requiring hospital treatment.
Local authorities reported that 38 Mozambicans were forced to flee their homes in the same Germiston area following raids by anti-immigrant groups.
South Africa has been gripped by weeks of protests and unrest targeting immigrants, with mobs armed with sticks going door-to-door in some areas demanding foreign nationals leave the country. Protesters accuse immigrants of taking jobs from locals.
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The violence has already claimed at least four foreign lives, including two Mozambicans killed after a protest in Mossel Bay in late May, according to police figures.
Homes of foreign nationals were vandalised and ransacked following a march in Germiston last week, local media reported. Shops run by foreigners have also been looted.
However, South African authorities have rejected reports from Nigeria of two other deaths linked to the unrest, as well as one from Ghana, attributing them instead to the country’s high crime rate.
Growing security fears have prompted tens of thousands of people from other African nations – including Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Liberia – to flee South Africa.
The government has yet to announce measures to stem the violence or protect foreign nationals living in the country.
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