Johannesburg
30 May 2008
South Africans in several cities around the country held marches Friday to protest recent attacks by their countrymen against foreigners. The marches came as government officials studied measures to deal with the tens of thousands of people displaced by the violence. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from Johannesburg.
South African citizens marched in the country's major cities to protest the violence against foreigners in the past three weeks.
He added that the military had donated 200 tents to the displaced. Relief groups are also pressing to provide food, clothing and better shelter to the victims who face increasingly harsh conditions as winter begins in the southern hemisphere.
South African officials have condemned the violence and have apologized but the government has yet to announce a policy on dealing with the plight of the victims.
Government spokesman Thembo Maseko told reporters Thursday the government had discarded a proposal to group the displaced in large centers.
"Many of the foreign nationals have jobs, have families, have kids going to school," he said. "So to uproot them from particular communities and put them in a refugee camp is something that government does not prefer at this particular time."
Relief groups say grouping displaced in large centers would create administrative and security challenges and possibly aggravate the social problems already being experienced by the victims.
As a result, many say the displaced should either return home, as thousands have already done, or be re-integrated into local communities. But they acknowledge that re-integration will be slow.
Many victims say they are traumatized by the violence and are fearful of their former neighbors. Some say they want to be placed under the care of the United Nations but U.N. officials say this is the responsibility of the South African government.