South African protesters chant slogans (Photo Courtesy The Daily Nation)

Johannesburg — THE South African Human Rights Commission has subpoenaed the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) after failing to get information for the development of an early warning system meant to prevent attacks on foreign nationals.

Commission chairman Lawrence Mushwana said yesterday that the NIA had failed to provide a requested submission on its findings after the xenophobic violence of 2008.

"Any interaction would assist in developing an early warning system," he said during the launch of the commission's report on the wave of violence in which 62 people were killed. However, Brian Dube, spokesman for the State Security Agency, which incorporates the NIA, said no "formal notification" had been received from the commission.

The commission's report came amid fears by government officials of a recurrence of the xenophobic violence. On Wednesday the commission's Cape Town office alerted police to pamphlets in Samora Machel informal settlement, near Philippi, warning foreigners to vacate by Monday. Anti-foreigner attacks have accompanied the wave of service delivery protests that has been building since last year.

While an early warning system had been established by the police, the commission said this was still at a developmental stage, largely consisting of a desk in the office of the national commissioner.

Mushwana said xenophobia was expected to worsen in the run-up to next year's local government elections. "Obviously when you approach elections there is a lot of jockeying for positions," he said.

The commission's report said reintegration of the displaced did not occur in a consistent or sustainable manner and was not being monitored. The commission also found a lack of co-ordination among various departments meant to plan for a recurrence at identified hotspots.

"It's ... the responsibility of government to monitor ... hot spots. The commission's role is to monitor that it's actually doing that," said deputy chairperson Pregs Govender.

The commission said xenophobia often claimed justification from immigration laws, "hence stereotypes reduce all members of the ethnically or linguistically different group to 'illegal immigrants' regardless of their actual status".

Production of the report followed a request by the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in SA, which cited rumours of planned violence against migrants .

The commission, accused of being slow to respond to the 2008 attacks, said the Human Rights Act did not prescribe an approach for it during a complex disaster. However, it had developed a policy paper on the role of national human rights institutions in a disaster.