The Mozambique government said five of its nationals were killed in “xenophobic attacks” in South Africa at the weekend, with local police on Tuesday confirming two deaths.
The killings in the southern coastal town of Mossel Bay are the first to be officially linked to the latest wave of protests against illegal migrants sweeping South Africa.
The Mozambique government’s media office said in a statement late Monday that violence broke out on Friday, focused on Mossel Bay, about 380 kilometres (236 miles) east of Cape Town.
“Regrettably, seven Mozambican citizens have died, five of them as a direct consequence of the xenophobic attacks and the other two as a result of a road accident, when they were travelling in a private vehicle on their way back to Mozambique,” it said.
But the South African police told AFP only two Mozambique nationals were killed in Mossel Bay late Friday, declining to say whether they died in anti-migrant violence.
“It is not true that five people were killed,” Western Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said.
“Two Mozambicans lost their lives in the Asla Park informal settlement outside the town on Friday evening, one 27-year-old and a 43-year-old,” she said.
The region has seen protests against illegal migrants similar to demonstrations that have swept South Africa in recent weeks, notably in the financial capital Johannesburg and east coast city of Durban.
Local media said a protest that started in Asla Park on Friday had escalated, resulting in several houses being torched and hundreds of people displaced.
The Mozambique government said the violence prompted 300 Mozambican nationals to return to their country by their own means on Saturday.
“The remaining just over 500 have since been sheltered in a safe location in the Western Cape Province, and as of today, 1 June, the process of their repatriation to Mozambique is already underway,” it said.
Mossel Bay mayor, Dirk Kotze, at the weekend voiced “deep concern and dismay at the current xenophobic attacks where people have been murdered, houses burned and families displaced”.
– June 30 ‘order’ –
South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised economy, has long been a destination for both legal and undocumented African workers.
It has experienced repeated waves of xenophobic violence over the past decades, with illegal migrants accused of crime and taking jobs from locals.
In 2008, 62 people — including 21 South Africans — were killed in anti-immigrant riots that also displaced thousands. Further outbreaks followed in 2015 and 2016.
The latest spike in anti-immigrant tensions has been building for months and comes as political parties seek support ahead of local government elections in November.
One citizen-led group has issued an ultimatum for illegal migrants to be expelled by June 30 and there have been reports of groups checking the documentation of foreign nationals and forcing small businesses run by non-South Africans to close.
The action has no official backing and has been criticised by the authorities.
With tensions building, Ghana flew out 300 of its citizens last week and is planning to take home hundreds more.
Last month several hundred foreign nationals from countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Somalia sought protection in the eastern port city of Durban, saying locals were going door-to-door to tell them to leave by the end of the month.
Several African countries — including Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Lesotho and Zimbabwe — have meanwhile urged their citizens in South Africa to exercise caution.
The Mozambique government statement said the situation was volatile and expected to worsen ahead of June 30, and it was working on measures to support its nationals still in South Africa.
