Tempers gets heated in Diepsloot community meeting

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The fight between “illegal” foreign nationals and South African citizens is far from over with history stemming from as far 2008 where some foreign nationals ended up losing their life.

This usually comes up as and when unemployment continues to rise up to an extend that ordinary citizens end up fighting for petty jobs, unskilled labour and informal trading with foreign nationals in townships and rural areas.

But the recent fights and killings of foreign nationals and some citizens however, in Diepsloot is set to have been sparked by illegal immigrants in area accused of being the main culprits of most crimes committed in and surrounding areas.

Elvis Nyathi, a 43-year-old Zimbabwean unfortunately fell victim of a mob justice in the area when the community said they were tired of criminal acts being committed by foreign nationals who are not getting arrested because they can’t be traced by the police.

The brawl was sparked by the killing of 7 South Africans who were killed a week before Nyathi was assaulted to death.

In an attempt to bring back peace and calm in the community, Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi was accompanied by Police Minister Bheki Cele on Friday in a community meeting for them to raise their grievances and dissatisfaction of the poor progress by the police and immigration officers in arresting and deporting illegal immigrants.

Tempers in the meeting ended up getting high when one man stood up saying he was from the Zimbabwean Communist Party representing the deceased Elvis Nyathi.

Minister Motsoaledi whisked the man away as the community members got angry saying the man was not supposed to be there in the first place.