African press review 25 February 2017

To South Africa first, and there's plenty of newspaper coverage of what's being described as "xenophobic violence" against illegal immigrants in the country.

The Star in Johannesburg reports that the African National Congress has called on the police to arrest those who promote violence in the wake of a march against illegal immigrants in Pretoria.

It's clear from the paper's coverage that illegal immigration has become a political football.

The Star reports that the ANC is blaming Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mash-aba, a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, for recent violence and the destruction of properties purported to belong to drugs lords in Rosettenville south of Johannesburg.

"His pompous call in December for foreigners to leave ‘his city’, declaring that all foreigners in the province were illegal, preceded this spate of attacks on foreigners," said the ANC.

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The Sowetan delivers blanket coverage in several stories.

136 people arrested in Tshwané protests. Dirty officials allow clean suburbs to rot. Foreigner attempts to retaliate during protest but is stopped. Anti-foreigner marchers destroy church pilgrims camp in Tshwane protest.

In a related story, the Sowetan reports that "A letter informing “all foreign parents” that their children would not be allowed onto school premises if they could not prove their documentation was in order‚ has sparked fury after being circulated on social media."

The letter added: “If any foreign child arrives here on Monday we will phone the police to come and collect your child and you can collect your child at the police station‚” the letter states.

The debate prompted Home Affairs Minister Malusi Giga-ba to label it fake news‚

However, the paper says, TMG digital - that's the on-line Times Media Group - has established the school was acting on "direct instructions from the Department of Home Affairs."

The plot thickens.

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Reporting from M-shenguville in Soweto, a squatter village referred to more politely as an "informal settlement", Business Day says some foreigners sheltered behind residential fences as the mob approached them.

Among the placards carried by the protesters was an appeal for US President Donald Trump “to come save us”.

Low on Trump's To-Do list I'd have thought.

The paper tells readers that the Save SA campaign condemned the attacks, accusing some politicians of "lighting the fire that burns”.

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Estimates of the number of Zimbabweans who have entered South Africa since 2000 range from one to five million. Exact figures are difficult to obtain due to the large number of undocumented migrants In neighbouring.

Naturally, the Zimbabwean papers are interesting themselves in the anti-foreigner violence.

The government-owned Herald seeks to calm anxieties with a report that the South African government has reassured fellow Africans staying in the country that it will not tolerate xenophobia.

The paper says the South African Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba set the record straight yesterday after a meeting with 35 African Ambassadors and High Commissioners.

Zimbabwe's Consul General said there was no need for Zimbabweans to panic.

All OK then.

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Or maybe not.

Newsday has a story headlined "Xenophobia tales of a Zimbabwean in South Africa."

The paper details the experience of a man in South Africa, legally, since October 2015.

"As soon as I start working, the police come and chase me away if I don’t pay a bribe," he told the paper.

“The police of this country seem to be above the law. They are a disgrace. People are scared of them; instead of trusting them and depending on them for protection against crime and criminals,” the Zimbabwean migrant is quoted as saying.

It's another angle on the worrying state of affairs in South Africa.