South Africa deploys army to curb riots

The South African army will be deployed to Alexandra, a town in Johannesburg, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Tuesday.

Mapisa-Nqakula said a Zimbabwean couple and a Mozambican were shot in the township on Monday night and Saturday respectively in the latest wave of anti-immigrant violence that has so far claimed seven lives.

The South African Police Service last Friday, 17th April, announced the activation of Joint Operational Centres nationally to curb the violence that has erupted with no promising results so far.

Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister on Tuesday said four National Security officials have been sent to the Ghana Mission in South Africa to ascertain the state of security as far as Ghanaian migrants living in the rainbow nation are concerned.

“As of yesterday (Monday), I can confirm that four national security officials have left Accra and are currently in South Africa to ascertain the state of security as far as our nationals are concerned.

“We believe that having security professionals working with the Embassy and evaluating what we have done, the plans we have put in place, the actions we have taken will help our assessments and what step to take next,” she told the media on Tuesday.

Though she would not make public plans to evacuate Ghanaians in the rainbow nation, Ms Hannah Tetteh said: “As far as our pick up and evacuation plans are concerned, we don’t think it’s a good idea to have that plastered all over social media…but it’s important that those key audiences who need it in South Africa should be the ones to whom it is available.”

The over two weeks old xenophobic violence has displaced many Africans living in that country, with many countries threatening to evacuate their citizens whiles citizens in countries like Nigeria have recently threatened to replicate the treatment meted out to their nationals on South Africans living in Nigeria.