Anti-immigrant violence sweeps South Africa's townships

South Africa has been rocked by scenes of hatred and savagery as poor township blacks turn on the migrants they claim have taken their jobs. More than 20 have been killed and thousands forced to flee by gangs wielding guns, clubs and machetes. Most horrifying of all, for a country which thought the worst was behind it, has been the return of necklacing, the appalling method of killing which involves putting a gasoline-filled tire around a victim's neck and setting it ablaze. Necklacing is reportedly being used against Zimbabweans and Mozambicans who have fled violence and poverty in their own countries. In horrific attacks, mainly around Johannesburg, women have been raped and men beaten to death. Shops and homes have been looted and dozens of shacks burned to the ground. Thousands of refugees have fled to the comparative safety of police stations. South Africa's Human Rights Commission, supported by the opposition Democratic Alliance, called on the government to put soldiers on the street of the areas worst affected. Former president Mandela said he was saddened by the violence, while Archbishop Desmond Tutu made an impassioned plea for it to end. "Please stop now," he said. "This is not how we behave. These are our sisters and brothers." Archbishop Tutu said neighboring states had taken in South Africans during the struggle against white rule. "We can't repay them by killing their children," he said. South Africa, with a population of 50 million, is home to an estimated 5 million immigrants. Some 3.5million are Zimbabweans escaping the horror of Robert Mugabe's regime. Though South Africa has the continent's biggest economy, with a growth rate of 5 percent for the past four years, unemployment has stuck at around the 25 percent mark. Now the refugees are being blamed for the jobs shortage, as well as the high rate of violent crime. Many in the townships also believe they are given preferential treatment on housing, a claim denied by the authorities. Scroll down for more... On May 18, gangs of South Africans were touring townships, squatter camps and poorer suburbs, demanding to see people's identification papers to check their nationalities. "This is a war," said Lucas Zimila, a 60-year-old Mozambican who was attacked by a mob while sleeping in his shack in Tembisa, north of Johannesburg. "They screamed at me to get out, that I didn't belong here. Then they burned everything in my house," said Zimila, who suffered a five-inch gash to his head. Around 1,000 migrants have taken refuge at Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church, which has long been a safe haven for newcomers from Zimbabwe. Former teacher Emmerson Ziso, who was chased from his home by a mob, says he now wants to go back to Zimbabwe. "Most of the Zimbabweans want to leave," he said. "It's spreading like wildfire and the police can't control it." President Thabo Mbeki and ANC leader Jacob Zuma have both condemned the violence. Mbeki has been widely criticized for his failed "quiet diplomacy" towards Zimbabwe which has seen a flood of refugees from the country where thousands are starving and supporters of opposition parties are being tortured and killed. Zuma said: "We can't be a xenophobic country. How we conduct ourselves says a lot about us in the international community." Violence against foreigners has reportedly spread to the east coast city of Durban. Phindile Radebe, provincial police spokeswoman, said a crowd of almost 200 people carrying bottles and wooden clubs had gathered on a street in Durban's impoverished suburb of Umbilo and began carrying out attacks. Radebe said on May 21: "A mob of plus/minus 200 were gathering on the streets carrying bottles and knobkerries [wooden clubs] busy attacking people on the streets." "They attacked one of the taverns there believed to be owned by Nigerians."