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CAPE Town – National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has ordered ANC leaders to return the favour other African countries offered, when its members were in exile during apartheid, and stop xenophobic attacks. Mbete appealed to the ruling party to take the lead and stop sitting back and watching attacks on foreign nationals.

Speaking at the Limpopo Provincial General Council in Polokwane over the weekend, she told delegates that xenophobic attacks in South Africa had put the ANC “in a difficult position on the continent”.

She said during the first xenophobic attacks, ANC leaders had faced difficult questions, not only from the opposition, but from the rest of the continent as well.

“Many African leaders still regard the ANC as their party, and also founded their political parties after being inspired by the ANC agenda at the time,” she said.

“So let’s be willing today, when we’re busy assaulting foreigners we need to remember that the ANC belongs to the rest of Africa, and that’s why the rest of Africa hosted the ANC when it needed Africa.

“They looked after us, so sometimes when you watch the things we do to Africans from the rest of the continent it’s very… very embarrassing.”

Mbete said alliance leaders should unite and called for an end to “power bickering”.

“You can’t unite other people unless you’re united, Cosatu is disintegrating right before us. It’s sad, comrades,” she said.

South Africa has in the past been seen as a model for democracy for the African continent, but its reputation has been tarnished by waves of xenophobic attacks throughout the country.

Meanwhile, the Malawian government said yesterday it would help repatriate its citizens from South Africa following an outbreak of xenophobic violence in Durban that has left four people dead.

“The situation is really tense as about 360 Malawians are stranded in South Africa following xenophobic attacks there,” Information Minister Kondwani Nankhumwa told reporters.

He said the Malawians targeted had “lost everything”, including their passports.

The attacks on immigrant-owned shops and homes in Durban’s townships come three months after a similar spate of attacks on foreign-owned shops in Soweto.

In both cases, shops have been looted and foreign traders ordered to shut up shop.

Over 1,000 foreigners in Durban have fled their homes and are now living in temporary camps, under police guard.

Police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said the situation was “tense but under control”, with police deployed to patrol affected areas.

He said four people had been killed since the beginning of the month, including an Ethiopian man whose shop was petrol-bombed by a mob Friday night.

Nearly 50 people have been arrested — 28 on Sunday night alone.

Nankhumwa said the Malawian embassy in Pretoria had started processing temporary travel documents for its nationals.

Hundreds of Malawians escaping poverty back home move to South Africa every year in search of work.

Violence against migrants from other African countries is common in South Africa, with locals accusing foreigners of taking their jobs and business.

The government has condemned the violence, with President Jacob Zuma sending a team of ministers to assess the situation. — News24/AFP.