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Durban - A sixth person, a foreign national, has died after being attacked in xenophobic confrontations in KwaZulu-Natal, police said, as a backlash forced South African companies to evacuate employees from neighbouring Mozambique.
"We can now confirm that a sixth person has died as a result of the current violence in KwaZulu-Natal," spokesperson Jay Naicker said in a statement.
''On Wednesday, April 15 2015 at 13:50, the body of a 58-year-old man was found on the Buffelsdraai Road in Verulam. The investigation has revealed that the man is a foreign national and he was attacked by a mob whilst at his home. He then fled and died of his injuries near his home.''
KwaZulu-Natal police had arrested 112 people across the province for a range of offences related to clashes between police, foreigners and locals. There were running battles at times in Durban's city centre ,with tear gas and rubber bullets being fired and the wail of sirens filling the air in the popular holiday city.
A 14-year-old boy was among those who died in the attacks.
Naicker said the violence seemed to be abating on Friday, and attributed it to the work of the police, civic and religious organsations and Thursday's peace march to the Ethikwini city hall.
But on Friday evening police were firing rubber bullets near a hostel n Johannesburg's Jeppestown, eNCA reported.
Sasol said it and its service providers would facilitate the "phased temporary exit'' of approximately 340 South African nationals from Mozambique back to South Africa, Anderson said.
"'Mozambican employees of our service providers have expressed concern around the reported incidents of violence against Mozambicans and other foreign nationals in South Africa and are also protesting about the presence of South African employees of our service providers working on the project.
Operations at the company's Central Processing Facility in Temane and the gas-fired power plant, CTRG in Ressano Garcia were running as normal.
The company is monitoring the situation.
Noeleen Phillipson, managing director of Netcare 911 said that although no threats were made against Netcare 911 staff in Mozambique, two staffers working on a site where there was "some tension" were also brought back to South Africa on Friday.
“Our operations in Mozambique are currently ongoing. The safety of our staff is of paramount importance to Netcare 911 and we will therefore continue to monitor the situation and will take the appropriate action to safeguard our people if it becomes necessary,” she said.
Truck driver John Mashiloane, who works for Ngululu Carriers told a News24 correspondent earlier that he was forced to return to South Africa after the truck he was driving was stoned a short distance from the border town of Ressano Garcia.
"I’m back in South Africa, we have parked our trucks in Komatipoort. When we went into Mozambique in the morning, we saw that traffic was clear and thought it was fine, but just 4km into Mozambique near the Muamba Toll Gate, we found a mob of about 300 people in bakkies who started pelting our trucks with stones and telling us that we are killing their brothers and sisters so we deserve to die too," said Mashiloane.
International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane sought to assure African heads of diplomatic missions on Friday that the country was dealing with the recent spate of xenophobic attacks, saying the attacks were "despicable''.
