8 January 2009
Police say they have made significant headway in their investigation of the vicious attacks against several foreign nationals in Durban at the weekend and arrests are imminent.
Police spokesperson Inspector Vincent Mdunge said two counts of murder and one of attempted murder were being investigated.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International has said that the lack of a structured approach to the victims of xenophobic attacks last year is, in part, to blame for the tension in central Durban.
Mdunge said both male and female perpetrators had been identified.
Police strongly denied that officers stationed at the Broad Street police station were slow to respond to the attack at the nearby Venture Africa apartment block on Sunday night.
This is at odds with eyewitnesses who were adamant on Wednesday that police had ignored the armed mob that crossed in front of the station on the way to the building where two men were killed, returning past the station again.
A third victim, Zimbabwean Eugene Madondo, who was incorrectly reported as dead, is still in a critical condition at Addington Hospital.
"Nothing of that sort (dereliction of duty) happened. Police were not initially alerted that there was a problem. When they were told, they responded promptly. Unfortunately the damage had already been done and people were dead and others severely injured," said Mdunge.
Nonhlanhla Mkhize, chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal chapter of Amnesty International, said: "We say xenophobia is an expression of hatred, but the people who conducted the attack aren't going to call it that. Amnesty's position is that it is a human rights abuse and the law should take its course."
She lives in McArthur Street, which runs across Broad Street where the attack occurred. She confirmed that the mob had been audible from a long way off as they headed for their target on Sunday night.
"We heard the noise of the picketers clearly... It does make you wonder whose side the cops are on. If you are in safety and security, then an event like that is your call."
Mkhize said she and her colleagues were concerned that there might be retribution for the fatal attack.
She said the situation in Albert Park was convoluted, but that the government had contributed to the unrest by failing to deal with displaced victims of last year's xenophobic violence.
"There is no specific Durban policy on the reintegration of people who were displaced during the wave of xenophobia. Many ended up on the street," she said.
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