JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Emmerson Ziso fled hunger and repression in neighboring Zimbabwe, but now he wants to go back.
Even his violent, chaotic homeland seems a haven compared to Johannesburg, where weekend attacks on foreigners left at least 12 dead.
“Most of the Zimbabweans want to leave. It is better at home than here,” said the former teacher who was chased out of his home by a mob early Sunday.
“It’s spreading like wildfire, and the police and the army can’t control it,” Ziso said, as he tried to help register about 500 people who sought refuge at the police station in Johannesburg’s Cleveland area.
It was a scene repeated in other poor suburbs near the city.
Angry residents accused foreigners of taking scarce jobs and housing, many of them Zimbabweans who had fled their country’s economic collapse.
President Thabo Mbeki said Sunday he would set up a panel of experts to investigate. African National Congress President Jacob Zuma, who is likely to succeed Mbeki next year, condemned the attacks.
The weekend attacks come as the government tries to change South Africa’s violent image ahead of the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament. South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world, with an average of 50 murders a day.
Many in the ANC government took refuge in neighboring countries during apartheid and are deeply embarrassed by the current violence.
Police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said 12 people were killed. He said 200 people had been arrested on charges such as rape, robbery and public violence. The Red Cross said at least 3,000 people were left destitute.
Police said the worst violence erupted after midnight Saturday in Cleveland and other run-down inner-city areas that are home to many immigrants. Two of the victims were burned and three others beaten to death. More than 50 were taken to hospitals with gunshot and stab wounds.
One of the demonstrators in Cleveland, Michael Khondwane, said foreigners were to blame for the nation’s drug and crime scourge.
There has been sporadic anti-foreigner violence for months, mainly aimed at stores run by Somalis accused of undercutting local storeowners, but nothing that compares to the violence over the weekend.
