Children at the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. (Photo Courtesy Graeme Williams/UNICEF)

Johannesburg — THE South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) is planning a high-level meeting with an interministerial committee on xenophobia as an exodus of Zimbabweans was reported yesterday amid threats of violence against foreigners.

Zimbabwean nationals were reported to be leaving Cape Town in large numbers, begging lifts from passersby to Johannesburg so that they could catch connecting buses back to Zimbabwe. The exodus lent weight to speculation that xenophobic violence would flare up after the World Cup final this weekend.

"We have met with Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, who is chairman of the Cabinet interministerial committee, on Monday to discuss these threats and we are planning an urgent high-level meeting with relevant departments on how they were effecting the commission's 2008 recommendations," said the commission's deputy chairman Pregs Govender last night.

Cape Town's disaster management said it was not planning to deal with the exodus. "Nothing to date has been reported to us so that we can take action," said Cape Town disaster management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

However, provincial commissioner Mzwandile Petros had reconvened the city's safety forum, and had requested civil society groups to help calm people's fears.

Ms Govender said the HRC had released a report in March calling for all relevant government departments to respond in writing as to how they would institute its recommendations. She hoped they would attend the meeting to "share concretely how they are planning to prevent such violence recurring and respond effectively to it".

Ms Govender said the HRC "last week sent a letter to the (parliamentary) speaker asking that the 2008 report be urgently addressed to ensure that its recommendations are implemented".

The HRC's chairman Lawrence Mushwana said last week the commission would form a task team to help xenophobia victims get access to legal support and that it would investigate complaints from victims, particularly about mistreatment from the police.

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) in SA said its systems were on standby, waiting for government instruction on the kind of assistance needed to help curb possible violence after the World Cup.

"It is difficult to say at this stage that the threats are genuine but our entire UN systems are waiting for the government's approach," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Pumla Rulashe. "It is the primary role of the law enforcement agencies to protect everyone and if people feel that they are being threatened, we will expect them to step in. I just pray it (the 2008 violence) doesn't happen."

The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in SA warned last month that foreigners living in SA would be targeted after the World Cup. Its advocacy officer Duncan Breen said the organisation was on alert. "People are taking these threats very seriously and we are once again calling on various government departments to play a role in preventing possible attacks."

After the xenophobic attacks in 2008 - in which at least 62 people were killed - the HRC and the government were blamed for their slow and fragmented response.

With Sapa