Breede Municipality mayor Charles Ntsomi wants displaced Zimbabweans to be reintegrated into the volatile De Doorns community within the next week.

But an organisation fighting for refugee rights says he is "dreaming" if he believes that thousands of Zimbabweans, who now fear for their lives, could safely return to the community so soon.

The Zimbabweans were chased out of the Hex River Valley town this week by angry local farm workers who accused them of stealing their jobs by offering cheap labour.

Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse De Doorns residents who destroyed Zimbabweans' homes on Monday.

About 2 000 Zimbabweans are being temporarily housed in a community hall, a large marquee and a sports field. A further 1 000 were taken in by their employers.

There was a heavy police presence at all the venues. Ntsomi said the reintegration process would be led by the local municipality and the SA Human Rights Commission.

He said representatives of the office of the UN High Commission for Refugees visited the town yesterday. They would start meeting authorities this morning to

assess when to address the community, Ntsomi said.

He was hopeful that the Zimbabweans would be back by next week. "We are engaging with them (the community) on a daily basis. We have to start the reintegration process, that must happen as soon as possible. This must happen in a week, I will be very happy if that can happen. But the situation on the ground will determine this."

However, the refugee rights organisation People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (Passop) said reintegration so soon was unlikely.

Passop's Braam Hanekom said: "That"s not possible. People's shacks have been destroyed, they have lost trust. They are angry and afraid and can't be moved around like chess pawns."

Hanekom, Ntsomi and Agri- Wes Cape have all agreed that xenophobia was not the only motivation for the violence.

Agri-Wes Cape's chief officer, Carl Opperman, said it was unacceptable that people's human rights were violated because of "obscure agendas".Opperman said it was odd that only Zimbabweans were targeted when people from Lesotho lived and worked in the same area. He slammed claims that foreigners were being paid less than locals.

"All workers in the area are paid according to the same salary scales and no distinction is being made between workers, no matter where they derive from. There is a shortage of local labour and therefore producers make use of foreigners, especially during season time."

He added that all foreign labourers had legal work permits issued by the Department of Home Affairs.

De Doorns station commissioner, Superintendent Desmond van der Westhuizen, said the situation was calm last night and there were police patrols across the area.

"Disaster Management and the Red Cross are there providing food and blankets for the people. We have police at the field and then patrolling the whole area constantly."

Van der Westhuizen said police were also closely monitoring an area occupied largely by people from Lesotho, to ensure the migrants' safety.