Watch: Zimbabwean woman allegedly killed in clashes with South Africans in Robertson, Cape Town

Violent protests have erupted in Robertson, Cape Town where local Basotho people are allegedly chasing foreign nationals working in the surrounding farms.

Several videos emerged online from Zimbabwean nationals fleeing from a marauding crowd of South African nationals.

According to audio clips sent to IZIM, Zimbabwean nationals were being attacked for accepting low wages and their dominance in farms in the surrounding areas.

Police had running skirmishes with the protesting locals who demanded that foreigners should leave their community.

Clashes have broken out between farm workers of foreign nationals allegedly from Lesotho and Zimbabwe, who work in Robertson just outside Worcester in the Cape Winelands. One of the locals says about 20 have been injured, and several shacks set on fire or vandalised.

— SAfm news (@SAfmnews) March 17, 2022

Several Zimbabwean nationals were reported to have been injured in the clashes.

Videos recorded by Zimbabweans fleeing from the locals emerged online on Thursday afternoon. It has been reported that a Zimbabwean woman was killed in the violence but this could not be immediately confirmed.

Zimbabweans living in South Africa live in fear as locals have formed associations which are targeting and removing them from their businesses, workplaces and their homes.

Read also: DA wants illegal immigrants to be granted amnesty and time to regularise their stay

In Gauteng, Operation Dudula, formed by South African citizens have conducted such operations without any interference from law enforcement even after the country’s home affairs minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi advised the South African citizens to leave immigration policing to his department.

In the trucking industry, the South African drivers have formed an organisation called All Truck Drivers Forum (ATDF) which has tormented Zimbabwean truck drivers working in South Africa.

The group records videos while quizzing the Zimbabwean drivers and assaulting them before chasing them from the trucks.

Some drivers have been removed from their jobs by their companies who fear that if they don’t comply with the ATDF then their trucks would be burned.

Zimbabweans in Robertson (Western Cape) in South Africa are being attacked and are under siege from a group of South Africans accusing them of taking “their” jobs.

There has been an increasing anti-foreigner feeling which is also being fueled by organized groups in South Africa. pic.twitter.com/YJZkCLhGI2

— Hopewell Chin’ono (@daddyhope) March 17, 2022