Thousands March in Johannesburg against Xenophobic Attacks

With a vow to put an end to the recent wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, more than 30,000 people are marching through Johannesburg, to demand a stop to attacks on foreigners.

An anti-xenophobic protest is also taking place in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth.

At least seven people have been killed, 5,000 left homeless and many foreign-owned shops looted since the attacks started about three weeks ago.

“We will defeat xenophobia like we defeated apartheid,” the premier of South Africa’s Gauteng province, David Makhura, told the crowd in Johannesburg.

Protesters sang a sorrowful song, Senzenina, or “What have we done?” It was popular at funerals of anti-apartheid activists during white-minority rule.

“Mandela must be turning in his grave. This is not the South Africa he fought for,” Johannesburg resident Vusi Hlongwane told BBC reporter.