Mozambicans – praag.org

Xenophobia rules Soweto

The Mozambican man cowered, trying to protect his head, as the blows pounded his body on Tuesday.

The suspected thief, known only as Johannes, begged the growing crowd of angry residents of Snake Park, Soweto, to stop assaulting him.

But he and his alleged accomplice found no mercy from this impoverished community.

Its residents are “sick and tired of being victims” of crime.

“Today, we’re going to kill these Mozambican thieves,” said Sipho Ngwekazi licking his lips.

Almost to make his point, the unemployed 23-year-old pointed to a towering mine dump that looms over Block 1 in Snake Park.

“That’s where we’ll dump their bodies,” he vowed. “You’ll see what mob justice is all about.”

He and the rest of the mob were following as the two, the other called Petrus, were dragged to a house in Block 9, where they were believed to be hiding stolen TVs.

Their hands were tied with wire, their faces bloodied, as they were dragged for several kilometres in the searing heat.

“If you don’t give us the TVs, we’re going to burn you. That’s how we’ll kill you,” warned some residents.

“We have to take the law into our own hands. The police don’t care. They will just release them,” said Lindiwe Jonas, a resident of Block 2.

“Yes, we have to teach them a lesson… we will burn rope in the hands they used to steal from us,” said her friend, Esther Letswalo. “This is why we don’t want foreigners here in our community.”

A patrolling Dobsonville police van tried to follow the crowd through Snake Park’s dusty alleys.
Police back-up was called.

As the crowd bayed for his blood, Johannes, his shirt bloodied, and his one eye swollen and sealed shut, seemed to plead with the police to intervene as the crowd tried to get to him. The police then encircled him, probably because there were journalists present.

“We are taking them with us,” an armed policewoman informed the crowd. “We can’t allow mob justice.”
The police put the two men in their van and drove off.

The community roared, incensed.

“The law is useless,” spat one resident, who didn’t want to be named. “The police will just release them. They get away with it.”

Later a small group of residents threatened to burn the shacks of the men they suspected of being thieves.

Instead, they darted inside one of the men’s homes, where they were seen stealing jewellery.

Source: The Star

Stolen uranium prompts SA probe

South African police have launched an investigation into how two Mozambican men obtained a kilogramme of uranium which they tried to sell in Durban, a spokesman said Tuesday.

“We’re trying to establish which mine it came from and how it came into the hands of the culprits,” said police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker, who described the uranium as a raw mined product.

The two men, both in their early 20s, were arrested last week with the uranium and 90 ecstasy tablets.

They appeared in court on Monday charged with being in possession of the drugs and the kilo (about two pounds) of uranium.

The case has heightened fears over the illicit trade in enriched materials that could be used in dirty bombs.

“We would have to establish whether it’s just a small batch that they got their hands on or whether they’ve got access to more of the stuff,” Naicker said.

The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA) confirmed that the substance was uranium and is testing its isotopic identity and levels.

“In order to produce a dirty bomb, one would have to obtain certain amounts of enrichment on the uranium,” Elliot Mulane, NECSA spokesman, told AFP.

“These tests will reveal the enrichment levels of the material, and with that revelation we will be able to confirm whether it can be used in a dirty bomb or in other clandestine or illegal activities.”

However, he said it was unlikely that highly enriched — that is, weapons-grade — material would have been sold on the street.

“Highly enriched uranium worldwide is stored in very, very high-security areas, and the chances that anyone could lay their hands on these materials are almost nil,” he said.

“So I’m not very concerned about highly enriched uranium ending up in the wrong places.”

Uranium trafficking is rare, with only five such cases in the past 20 years, Mulane said.

But he admitted that the theft was “a concern”, citing the issue of safeguards at mines and fears over the possible toxicity of the substance.

The material is likely to have come from a mine, possibly not within South Africa.

South Africa has the continent’s only nuclear power plant, but several countries have significant uranium deposits and mining activities.

The results of the tests on the uranium are expected Thursday.

International atomic bodies have been informed of the seizure.

The men were remanded in custody until December 3 for a bail application. – Sapa/AFP

3 Mozambicans jailed for rhino poaching

Three men have been jailed for five years each for rhino poaching in Pietersburg, Limpopo police said on Thursday.

Mozambican nationals Augustus Nkuna, Foster Nyoni, and Manyanga Shiringa were sentenced on Wednesday by the Makhado Regional Court, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

“The trio were also handed a 12-month suspended sentence.”

They were arrested in May last year after police caught them poaching rhinos at the Nwandeni Resort.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday evening, five alleged rhino poachers were arrested in Gravelotte after police received a tip-off.

“The five were planning to invade a private game farm and poach rhinos,” said Mulaudzi.
Police confiscated a hunting rifle, two butcher knives and two vehicles.

The men were expected to appear in the Phalaborwa Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Mulaudzi said the arrest of the five brought the number of people arrested for rhino poaching to eight this week. On Sunday, three men were arrested while they were en route to allegedly poach rhinos in Hoedspruit.