Councillor implicated in attacks (Business Day)

NO ARRESTS have been made in the attacks on foreigners in Durban at the weekend, despite alleged perpetrators being pointed out and CCTV footage clearly identifying them, Sherylle Dass of Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) said yesterday.

Dass said allegations were also made that members of the local Community Policing Forum (CPF) and African National Congress ward councillor Vusi Khoza were part of the mob. But Khoza yesterday denied any involvement in the attacks. Two foreigners, Zimbabwean Victor Zowa and Tanzanian Said Omari, plunged to their deaths on Sunday night after being pushed out of windows in the Venture Africa shelter for refugees. Other residents of the shelter were attacked and beaten, one remaining in critical condition in hospital.

Dass said that on the Saturday night before Sunday's attacks, a group of people went to the shelter, ostensibly to arrest criminals. There was no violence that night, but Dass said witnesses told LHR that CPF members and Khoza were present at the Saturday confrontation. She said there were also allegations that Khoza had been present on Sunday night when the attacks occurred, but these could not be confirmed.

On Monday there was a "face-off" between the locals and foreigners. It was reportedly Khoza who calmed the crowd down and then called for a meeting on Tuesday between all the stakeholders. He said he had been called out by the leadership of the foreigners to defuse the situation. "Each time I was called by the leadership of the foreign nationals to mediate. On Sunday I was at home when the incident took place. I only got there after it had happened, together with the police. "Anybody who has a different opinion must come forward to the police and the police will do their job," he said.

Khoza said the building in which the incident took place was an "illegal conversion" from offices into a residential unit. He said the reason he was being implicated in the attacks was that he was trying to shut down these illegal conversions, which were "havens for crime" being run by a cartel that was profiting from them. Provincial police spokesman Vincent Mdunge confirmed that no arrests had been made but said they were "imminent". He said the police had collected sworn statements from witnesses and other evidence to identify the suspects and were in discussions with prosecutors "on the legalities, to ensure that we secure convictions".

Mdunge said the police were aware of the allegations of the involvement of CPF members and Khoza, and said these allegations were being investigated. But he said police were "sceptical" about the involvement of the CPF because it knew the CPF did not stand for that type of conduct.