Mozambican man, Emmanuel Sithole Stabbed To Death In South Africa

People stood by while a Mozambican man, Emmanuel Sithole, was cornered, stabbed in the heart and left to die.

This happened yesterday in Johannesburg and yes, he died from his wounds.

Killed just for being from another African country.. and the story told by the journalist who witnessed this brutal stabbing is heartbreaking!

As told by Beauregard Tromp and James Oatway for www.Timeslive.co.za




Shortly before 7am yesterday April 18th, Sunday Times journalists were in Alexandra township, near Sandton, speaking to shop owners who had their businesses looted overnight.

Children played, people walked the streets, some stopped to gawk at the carnage from the night before. Then this happened …

In a gutter in Alexandra a Mozambican man stopped and lay down. The gash to his chest meant he could go no further.


At the day clinic less than 100m away they could not help him.

The doctor scheduled to be on duty did not show up because he was a foreigner and feared being a victim of xenophobia.

It began on Friday night when mobs blockaded Arkwright Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in Alexandra, with rubble and burning tyres.

Foreign-owned shops’ roofs were ripped open and metal gates torn away as looters went on the rampage.




Outside one spaza shop, a man in a black corduroy jacket and red shirt was walking along the road.

Suddenly a young man dressed in a grey tracksuit jacket beat him over the head with a wrench.

The red-shirt man tried to fend off the blows, his arms raised.

He stumbled back, falling into rubbish strewn by the roadside.

The blows with the wrench rained down. Then the bludgeoning stopped and the man with the wrench moved away.

“Are we safe here?” asked a South African woman watching the attack.

The man in the red shirt got up. Now another man with a beige spottie approached, holding an okapi knife high above his head.

Again, the man in the red shirt raised his hands, pleading for mercy.

But his pleas were in vain. He was stabbed … again and again



The two grappled and fell to the floor. The man with the wrench returned. Finally, a lanky young man sprinted towards the man among the rubbish, kicking him in the head.

The young man pulled a butcher’s knife. A man in a black leather jacket who had discouraged the attack grabbed the wrist with the butcher’s knife. The attackers fled.





The red-shirt man tried to get up but fell. Finally he made it to his feet. Feebly, he walked up the road.

Do you know why they attacked you? Who are you? Where are you from, we asked him.

He turned his head towards the questions fired at him, his face pleading.

He said nothing. His shirt was drenched, a 2cm gash in his chest.

Metres further he stumbled and lay down in the gutter. He struggled to sit up and fell down




Help me get him into the car. Help me, please,” said photographer James Oatway, looking around at the men gathered around him. One stepped forward, reluctantly.

Up the road, at Alexandra Day Clinic, nurses did what they could. There was no doctor; he would have to be taken to Edenvale Hospital.

Along the way the man was flailing wildly, sitting up, lying down, wincing with pain. The wound to his chest was gushing now.

At Edenvale Hospital a lone gurney stood at the entrance. The porters sat in a room with tinted windows. Oatway pleaded for help. The man in the car was critical, he said.

Slowly one porter rose and scribbled in a book. Then the other, both now ambling towards the hospital entrance. Inside the car the red-shirt man looked lifeless.




“He’s dead. We can’t take him,” one porter pronounced.

There was no pulse. Then a gag reflex. He’s alive.

Inside the ICU, doctors compressed his chest, massaging his heart. After nearly seven minutes a ventilator was used.

Shortly after 9am Emmanuel Sithole was pronounced dead. He was Mozambican. The stab wound to his chest had penetrated his heart.

In his pockets, R285 and 10c in change and a cellphone. His phone would ensure he did not die nameless.

On his wrist, three armbands read: “United for Bafana.

Source:
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2015/04/19/the-brutal-death-of-emmanuel-Sithole


Tagged:editorial, xenophobia, south Africa, pictures

Nigerian Car Dealership Shop Burnt Down In SA Xenophobic Violence! - Foreign Affairs

Shops set ablaze, looted as xenophobic attacks spread in South Africa
By Faith Karimi and Diana Magnay, CNN
Updated 0305 GMT (1005 HKT) April 18, 2015


Xenophobic attacks spread to Johannesburg 02:51
Story highlights
Attacks against immigrant businesses started in Durban
The attacks have left six people dead
Johannesburg (CNN)South African police fired rubber bullets Friday to disperse crowds setting immigrant businesses ablaze as attacks against foreigners spread to Johannesburg.

Chanting and singing, machete-armed residents burned down shops owned by foreigners, including a Nigerian dealership in the nation's largest city.

Immigrants carrying bricks accused police of not doing enough to protect them as businesses smoldered.

Six people killed
Violence targeting immigrant shops started recently in the port city of Durban, where two foreigners and three South Africans were killed. Residents have accused African immigrants of taking their jobs and committing crimes. The unemployment rate in South Africa is 25%, according to government figures.

A sixth death occurred Wednesday. The body of a 58-year-old foreign national was found in Verulam town, where a mob attacked the man at his home. He fled and died of his injuries near his home, South African police said.

At least 112 people have been arrested throughout KwaZulu-Natal Province for various offenses related to the violence, police said.

Social and economic issues
President Jacob Zuma said his government is addressing social and economic issues brought up by citizens. He said immigrants contribute to the nation's economy while others bring scarce skills.

"While some foreign nationals have been arrested for various crimes, it is misleading and wrong to label or regard all foreign nationals as being involved in crime in the country," Zuma said.

As the violence spread to other cities, terrified immigrants sought a resolution. Others fled, taking refuge at police stations in major cities.

"They are using this as scapegoats," said Jean-Pierre Lukamba, an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"Every day, migrants are living in this fire. It's not just attacks. It's institutionalized xenophobia. The government must do something. Those people aren't just mad for no reason. They want electricity, they want jobs, they want water."

'They don't understand the history of Africa'
Lukamba said he's part of an organization trying to negotiate between the two sides.

"They don't understand the history of Africa; if they do, they would know each of us, we are one," he said.

Thousands fled to temporary shelters, with aid group Gift of the Givers saying about 8,500 people are hiding in refugee centers or police stations this week because of the violence. The number did not include those who have moved in with friends or relatives.

The aid group said it has a facility in Johannesburg to help those who might need shelter.

"We are preparing aid packages for those who may journey onwards to their home countries," it said.


Police ordered to work around the clock
The violence spread from Durban to Johannesburg even though Zuma has condemned the attacks and appealed for calm.

"No amount of frustration or anger can ever justify the attacks on foreign nationals and the looting of their shops," he said. "The attacks violate all the values that South Africa embodies, especially the respect for human life."

Zuma said he has ordered police to work around the clock to protect citizens and immigrants, and arrest the perpetrators.

In Mozambique, the South African energy and chemical giant Sasol was temporarily returning about 340 South African nationals to South Africa "as a precautionary measure," Sasol spokesman Alex Anderson said.

Mozambican employees of Sasol service providers have voiced concern about reported violence against Mozambicans and other foreign nationals in South Africa and protested the presence of South African employees in Mozambique.


"We have had no case

Tagged: editorial, xenophobia, south Africa