Johannesburg, April 22 (IANS): South Africa on Tuesday deployed troops to anti-immigrant hotspots to quell the xenophobic violence that has rocked the country as hundreds of immigrants were repatriated.
South African Defence Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, said that it was the right time for the country to deploy its troops to restore order in the affected areas, according to a Xinhua report.
At least seven people have been killed in the violence so far and shops run by immigrants have been looted.
The deaths necessitated the deployment of troops, Mapisa-Nqakula said. However, she clarified that the army "will not take the lead, it is the police who must provide the leadership".
On the other hand, 906 foreigners went home voluntarily from the country, according to the South African Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba.
"Yesterday, we had 906 people who had been repatriated voluntarily, some of them who had registered themselves for voluntary repatriation, changed their minds when the buses arrived," Gigaba said.
Most of those repatriated are Zimbabweans and Mozambicans, according to sources.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the troop deployment would start in Alexandra, a Johannesburg township, where a Mozambican national was stabbed to death over the weekend. According to reports on Tuesday, four suspects in the murder case have been arrested.
The South African government had resisted earlier calls to deploy troops, insisting that the police could handle the situation.
"It's not too late at all, precisely because we are not a military state," Mapisa-Nqakula told a press briefing in Johannesburg.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was awaiting assessment from the police to decide whether to deploy more troops, she said.
State Security Minister, David Mahlobo, said that it would be a joint operation.
"The police have done their best, but now they have requested assistance in volatile areas." he said.
The move comes as violence flared up again in Isipingo and Durban on Tuesday despite relative calm in other areas.
Some South Africans attacked foreigners who wanted to reopen their businesses in Isipingo, a town that has been hit hard in the xenophobic attacks, a police spokesperson said.
Authorities have set up three camps in areas like Isipingo to house thousands of immigrants displaced by the violence.
The attacks were believed to have been undertaken by jobless South Africans who blame foreigners for taking their jobs away. The unemployment rate in the country is 24 percent, according to the BBC.
South Africa is home to about two million foreign nationals, including Indians, according to official data. But the number of immigrants could be much higher.