20100713
allafrica

Johannesburg — Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and his defence counterpart Lindiwe Sisulu deployed police and soldiers in the Western Cape yesterday to clamp down on xenophobic violence which saw more foreigners fleeing their homes at the weekend.

Refugee groups had warned of a wave of xenophobic attacks after the World Cup. This led to an hundreds of foreigners, many from Zimbabwe, leaving SA last week.

At least 100 foreign nationals fled their homes during the weekend as sporadic incidents of violence broke out. Those who remained faced threats of violence in some townships yesterday.

Yesterday Ms Sisulu said the South African National Defence Force would make resources available to support the police to stop criminals who were threatening residents. "Opportunistic criminals must know that we will deal with them harshly, there is no way we will allow them to spread fear and crime, we are working very hard to find them and prosecute them," she said.

Mr Mthethwa, who is also the chairman of the interministerial committee on xenophobia, said earlier this month that SA was not a "banana republic" and had the capacity to deal with the threats of violence. "By and large, these are criminal acts," he said.

Western Cape police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said yesterday that police had been deployed in several townships in the province.

He said although there were reports of violence and looting in some townships, the situation was under control. "Two shacks were burned in separate areas and sporadic incidents of looting and threats have been made against foreign nationals," he said.

Seven men aged between 19 and 30 were arrested in Nyanga township for public violence.