Immigrants seek SA police protection

Many Zimbabweans did not get the chance to gather their possessions

Hundreds of Zimbabweans are seeking refuge at a police station in Johannesburg after South Africans burnt and looted their shacks in a settlement near the city.

The South African residents of the settlement decided on Sunday to expel the Zimbabweans and destroy their homes.

They accuse the Zimbabweans of involvement in violent crime and taking the jobs of South Africans.

"They have about 450 people looking for shelter at the police station and one of their leaders told me they have about another 500 people on their way to the station," police spokeswoman Terry-Anne Booyse told AFP news agency.

She said more than 20 people have been arrested for public violence over the past two days and they would appear in court in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

She said three police vans and 15 police officers were patrolling the area and more reinforcements were to be sent to the camp later.

The Zandspruit squatter camp has about 15,000 shacks and some 50,000 residents lviing there.

Jackson Sibanda, a migrant worker from Bulawayo, who has lived in the area since 1994, said he was too scared to go back to his burnt-out shack and salvage any possessions that might be left.

Violence

Eyewitnesses said six people were injured and more than 100 shacks destroyed during the clashes.

Trouble had been brewing since the murders last month of two South Africans, both blamed on Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwean workers are resented for working longer hours for less money

A South African television journalist, Mark Kluzner, witnessed the rioting.

"What we saw were shacks that had been set alight, places had been completely trashed and looted," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

"There were mobs of youths running around the township trying to find Zimbabweans who they claim are criminals in the community," he added.

Mr Kluzner also said the mob targeted Zimbabweans who were married to South Africans and had lived in the country for years.