(TALKZIMBABWE) 1,500 Zimbabweans flee S.Africa

1,500 Zimbabweans flee S.Africa
AFP/TZG
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:45:00 +0000

ABOUT 1,500 Zimbabwean migrants have fled their homes in a shantytown in rural South Africa, after tensions erupted with locals over competition for farm jobs, police said Wednesday.

South Africans on Tuesday physically prevented Zimbabweans workers from getting on to trucks taking them to jobs in the grapelands around De Doorns, about 140 kilometres (85 miles) northeast of Cape Town, said senior police superintendent Hendrik Olivier.

Fearing the incident could lead to further attacks, the Zimbabweans fled their shacks and turned to local authorities. Emergency services have set up a camp for the migrants at a local sports field, he said.

"We put up an internal displaced people camp at the sports field," he said. "We put up tents and toilets."

He said the tensions erupted over "the limited resources that are available in the rural areas, and also the limited work opportunities."

Many of the Zimbabweans had seasonal jobs tending grape vines, but South Africans accused them of taking away their work by agreeing to longer hours and lower wages.

The incident sparked sharp memories of the xenophobic violence that rocked the nation in May 2008, in which more than 60 people were killed and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes -- many of whom relocated to camps that have since closed.

Some of the Zimbabweans had lived in the area for up to three years. Some of their shacks were knocked down by angry neighbours, but many of the Zimbabweans were renting the shacks from South Africans, he added.

Tensions flared in the small Hex River Valley town over the weekend, when local farmworkers drove about 70 Zimbabweans out of their homes.

They are claiming that farmers prefer to employ Zimbabweans, who they allege accept less money to work.

Braam Hanekom from the People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (Passop), an organisation that fights for the rights of foreign nationals, said a committee of 12 Zimbabwean representatives had been elected to meet the local farmers' association.

Hanekom said the Zimbabwean farmworkers had refused to return to work until their safety - and proper labour conditions - were guaranteed.

"People are concerned about the safety issues of returning to work and there appears to be a lot of concern about some of the labour brokers and contractors," he said.

"For long-term reintegration, people want to know what their rights are," Hanekom said.

For local farmworkers, it was business as usual: they lined the streets of Stofland and Ekuphumeleni to be collected and driven to various farms.

- AFP/TZG