So far this morning we have brought you the sad tale of Emmanuel Sithole, the Mozambican man hunted and murdered in broad daylight. We also showed you Zapiro’s take on the matter, where he lays some of the blame at the feet of King Goodwill Zwelithini.

But what is it like inside one of the mobs of South Africans looking to spill the blood of foreigners? Some brave souls from City Press spoke to a mob outside Jeppe Hostel, inner-city Johannesburg, and what they found should frighten us all. Below are some excerpts from the piece:

Wathela wayeka (It’s open season on foreigners),” [mob leader Sifisio] Mbambo proclaimed while holding aloft a razor-sharp tomahawk…

They demanded that the police should give them access to the objects of their anger.

“The police and our government will not realise that we are serious until we spill blood,” said one of the men, who urged the police to take a 30-minute break so they could “deal with the foreigners”.

But why this sudden desire to rid the streets of the amakwerekwere and turn so violently on the people you share your streets with? Ah yes, that misinterpreted speech by Zwelithini of course:

Mbambo told the crowd: “Ukhulumile uNgangezwe Lakhe, umlomo ongathethi manga. Amazwi eSilo kufanele afezeke! (The king has spoken. He is the mouth that tells no lies. His wishes must be fulfilled!)”…

…it was a “noble and sacred” mission, in Mbambo’s words, to rid the country of foreigners…

And will the foreigners take these attacks lying down or choose to bear arms in response? This from Nigerian Obi, who watched the crowd gather outside the hostel:

“We can sink this place. We are not afraid of them. We also know violence. We were involved in the killings in the Niger Delta. We just respect them because this is their country.”

With a garden fork and an iron rod in his hands, he said: “What they are doing is not good, we are all Africans. We are not [Jacob] Zuma. We are not responsible for the economy going down. We give them money, we employ them, they are lazy and not ready to work and they still do this to us.

Let’s just hope there is some form of resolution that doesn’t involve further violence. As it stands the chances of that happening are few and far between and the hate, animosity and bloodshed from both sides is set to get worse before it gets better.

[source:citypress]