Durban protests spiralling out of control?

[Dave A]

Absolute chaos in my neck of the woods today.

[Dave A]

Protest action:- Please be aware that all the informal settlements in Effingham, Avoca, Seacowlake and Kenville are protesting , throwing stones at cars and blocking roads. SAPS is aware of this and are taking appropriate action
from Greenwood Park SAPS CPF on Facebook

Also - Municipal strike action is affecting the Durban City Centre, and there are reports of xenophobic attacks going down in the Isipingo area.

I never thought I'd be considering doing this ever again, but perhaps time to take out SASRIA cover?

[Dave A]

Just 200m up the road from my office -

[IanF]

Wow that is hectic, plus these protests do spread sometimes so this is worrying.
Sterkte Dave

[bones]

there has to come a time where violence
must be considered as attacks and not
be protected as "acting out" or getting
"the word out" how many people must
get hurt before it becomes criminal

this is not peaceful assembly

[Justloadit]

It may be that we have reached a point of restless supporters of the current government, who only know of destruction as a means to change, instead of using the ballot box.

[ians]

It turned into a feeding frenzy. Smash and crab as the fools sit in their cars and wait patiently for it to end. People watch as others are robbed right in front of them. There is no longer Buffel and Casper loads of SADF or UN peace keepers coming to save the day. Wake up people this is the reality of living in Africa.

[bones]

It turned into a feeding frenzy. Smash and crab as the fools sit in their cars and wait patiently for it to end. People watch as others are robbed right in front of them. There is no longer Buffel and Casper loads of SADF or UN peace keepers coming to save the day. Wake up people this is the reality of living in Africa.

and one of the many reasons why
i am going away hopefully next
year

[Dave A]

There seems little doubt our problems are escalating rather than going away

[Blurock]

What about the Xenophobia. Who is stoking the fire? Why is there a country wide protest against "foreign" statues and immigrants?
I have seen some horrific photos and videos of people being hacked to death and children tied to burning tyres in the past few days.
This barbarism and anarchy is being instigated by people with a political motive. Has Bob's visit anything to do with what is happening now?
Why are the so-called leaders of our country not taking decisive action?

[msmoorad]

while its true that the violence were seeing is not the way to go about it, the truth is that theres just too many foreigners here.
both legal & illegal

many of the legal ones are not really legal since they bribed corrupt Home Affairs officials in order to get documents that they dont really qualify for.

whats happening now is that many local criminals are joining in these xenophobic attacks just to loot, rob & steal.

the real culprits are our ANC govt who opened the doors to everyone despite having lots of problems here that we need to sort out first.

for all these foreigners, SA is a very attractive venue since were the wealthiest & most developed African country.
very few foreigners are real refugees.
they lie about the conditions back home:
eg, there may be violence etc in one part of their country but their area is safe - they see it as an opportunity to come here & ask for asylum & our govt has no way to ascertain whether they are lying or not since their countries dont have proper records etc of who is who & where they live...

then theres the organised crime syndicates who bribe the police who allow them to operate freely.
the worst are the Nigerians & the Point Rd area in Durban is filled with them

im hearing that theres altogether close to 10 million foreigners here
that places a huge burden on our country-even without taking foreign criminals into account.

as much as i hate to see innocent people being brutally killed, it seems that the govt wont act unless things reach the level were seeing now.

my view is this:
i wish everyone all of the best but unfortunately, SA cant accommodate everyone, so these foreigners must leave. all of them.

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

What about the Xenophobia. Who is stoking the fire? Why is there a country wide protest against "foreign" statues and immigrants?
I have seen some horrific photos and videos of people being hacked to death and children tied to burning tyres in the past few days.
This barbarism and anarchy is being instigated by people with a political motive. Has Bob's visit anything to do with what is happening now?
Why are the so-called leaders of our country not taking decisive action?

The video I suspect that you speak of is not a xenephobia incident. It was in March. A 30yr old was killed after a bar altercation.
The community then attacked teh 5 people. 2 died, 2 are still in hospital

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

I am intrigued at the refugee law experts.
Please take note that in terms of the Refugee Act and international conventions a person can be a refugee where there is public disorder in ANY part of the country.
In other words, if I am living in an unaffected area, and there is public disorder in any other part, a person is a refugee.
As to most people are not refugees, again I am intrigued by your expertsie. Yes, there are people who are not and exploit it.
If I may explain why, no person can apply for any immigration permit if they are not illegally present. Therefore, they apply for asylum to become legally present, they then apply for work permits or whatever.
I am happy to conced that large amounts of people then use corruption to get these permits.
I have previously advised government that the immigration act should be changed so that if you have an asylum permit you cannot apply for an immigration permit unless there is a spousla or child relationhsip. Alas, government failed to make this simple legislative change.

To return to refugees - The DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea all have public disorder, as ruled by our courts.
Ethiopia is considered one of the worst human rights places in the world. It is kept quite, in all probability because of American support due to the strategic position.
Kenya is also now a problem area as is Nigeria.
Bangladesh is also arguably a public disorder country.
There is strong argument that so is Pakistan.

The refugee process is so biased and flawed that it is a serious problem.
In fact every appeal between 2007 and 2013 is unlawful as the board was unlawfully constituted.
I am not aware of any review that has not ruled against the state.
In 2010 the UN statistics show that 67% of Ethiopian s receivved refugee status. IN SA only 27% got. Remeber the 67% includes SA figures and in reality it is 80%, that difference in statistic already points to a flaw. Since 2010 it will have decreased in fact in 2014 only 2 people got refugee status in South Africa, one of whom was Syrian.
As to undocumented, that also stems from Home affairs actions.
The Durban refugee centre refuses to accept applications from the Asian continent (Pakistan, India etc). Again I have raised this issue, not only is it unlawful, but it means that we have undocumented people in our country, a serious security issue. No application can be refused, what needs to occur is proper asseesment.

I am intrugued as to where the figure of 10 million foreigners is derived from.
What seems to be missed is that as much as there is talk of anti foreigners, if this was so why do we see relatively little action against Chinese and the Asian continent? The action seems only to be directed towards the African continent.

Yes, there is abuse. Yes, there is an abbundance of foreigners who utilise resources.
However, the government is in the position to address the issues on the African continent, but refuses. African leaders are allowing chaos which results in people fleeing here. We, as a country are entitled to put pressure on them, but do not, probably something to do with mining.

[vieome]

South Africa often endorses rigged elections in other african states, and then is surprised that the people from those states end up here.

However lets not forget the thousands of South Africans who are immigrating to England, Ireland and Austrialia, how would you feel if they were attacked there.

If you looting millions what do you care when your subjects are looting a six pack of coke and a bag of chips.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3041886/South-Africa-woman-latest-victim-rioting-sparked-anti-immigrant-protests.html

There may be too many foreigners in SA, but the attacks are not justified, if you tolerate this then your children will be next.

[KimH]

my view is this:
i wish everyone all of the best but unfortunately, SA cant accommodate everyone, so these foreigners must leave. all of them.

I am a foreigner albeit one that has lived here for 42 years, was educated here, worked and paid taxes here, got married and raised kids here - I am still a foreigner. You will however be pleased to hear that I'm taking my burdensome self and my family back home later this year.