“You could never convey the power of the story in print,” explains Trench, who takes inspiration from the blogosphere. “It’s a very dynamic environment – [bloggers] tend to be more creative and open to new technologies,” he adds. “So we looked around to see what was freely available not just to build a website but to add a more meaningful dimension to the story.”

His team used Google Maps to plot a killing spree, and opened up multimedia content; the “Listen to Us” page had audio message from the Somali refugees. Another Eastern Cape newspaper, the Herald, gave big issues an independent platform with the Friendly City Project: it asked whether Port Elizabeth deserved its welcoming moniker and boosted the Herald’s traffic by 28% – 63% of visitors reaching the spin-off site via a URL published in print.

Steve Matthewson, the Herald’s senior assistant editor, believes using blogging software for such secondary sites is not a long-term solution: “We need to start forming cells of tech-savvy but also engaged people,” he says, “building from the bottom up new tools to engage readers and reclaim possession of the publishing process, which, unfortunately, has been lost to IT startups.”

Matthewson would rather collect his content in one place; the satellite site was a technical necessity. For Trench, however, satellite sites have editorial benefits: longevity and additional publishing space. He aims to make Dying to Live an ongoing forum for debating xenophobia and racism in South Africa. “Some people would say it’s crazy, because you’re separating your content from your main online presence,” he says. “I think it helps to create a brand within your work.”
- Jenni Marsh

• This article originally appeared  on  Guardian.co.uk  (June 29, 2009): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/29/cannes-lions-advertising-south-african-media

SIX months after the brutal murder of a Somali mother and her three children, villagers in Tambo village in Queenstown are still shocked and scared – but they’re also determined to stay put.
“We’re not going to run away,” one pledged.

Somali mother Sahra Omar Farah, 49, was murdered with her three children in her shop, allegedly by a gang of nine men, in September last year. The brutal attack even caught the attention of the United Nations and then-Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

Farah had only been in the village for 27 days after leaving a refugee camp in Cape Town in search of a better life in Queenstown.

She came to South Africa three years ago for a medical solution for her deaf and mute son, Ahmed Esse Osman.

“She was holding on to her son like she was trying to protect him. There was just so much blood on the floor and I could not help myself crying. It was my first time seeing such a brutal murder in my 51 years,” said Somali shop owner Hashim Mohamud Gure in Tambo.

Gure, who witnessed the gruesome killing, could not hold back his tears as he relived the day of horror.

He saw the lifeless body of Farah with her dead son lying on her legs in a pool of blood.

In the room next to the shop, which Farah used as her bedroom and storeroom, two of her children were also lying in a pool of blood, lifeless.

The room, which is still full of groceries and Farah’s clothes, has since become home to rodents.

Since the attack the community has been united in trying to stand up against crime.

“Every person here has been going to court every time those people (accused) appear. I am not scared living here because we (the community) look after each other. We are not going to ran away because of criminals,” Gure said.

As the Daily Dispatch team entered the shop, there was a strong smell of a detergent which was used to cover up the smell of the congealed blood.

Villager Mable Mtshawulana, who lives just a few metres away, said the murder shocked her and has left her wondering if worse could happen.

She described Farah as the “most humble person” and said she often visited her and joked with her children.

“I heard screams that night, but I did not think it was my friend and her family being killed. It was so painful in the morning when I saw that everyone was killed at the shop. It felt like these were my own children that had been slaughtered,” Mtshawulana said, taking a few minutes trying to hold the tears back before breaking down even further.

After regaining her composure, Mtshawulana said that since the incident, the people of Tambo had tried to take a stand against crime.

Since the arrest of three suspects – Mandla Thomas, 22, Melikhaya Ncaphayi, 26, and Masithini Dyasi, 19 – the community has been protesting outside Queenstown Magistrate’s Court wearing T-shirts bearing the faces of Farah and her children. The trio face murder charges and will stand trial in the Grahamstown High Court on June 30.

Abdi Mohamed Ayante, who has been the driving force behind the protest, said it was going to be difficult for them to attend the trial in Grahamstown.

“I have to keep her (the deceased’s) sisters in the UK informed about the trial. They really want to know what happened to their sister and want justice,” he said. – By THANDUXOLO JIKA. Pictures: THEO JEPTHA

DESPITE escaping hardships in war-torn Somalia to seek refuge in South Africa, Somalis are still faced with the challenge of finding proper education for their children.

Self-employed Mohamed Abdul, a father of two boys and two girls, is one of the refugees forced to send the children to private schools even though they cannot afford the fees.

Although Abdul only makes about R8000 a month from his restaurant, catering for Somalis mostly, he is forced to pay high private school fees.

“I tried to get them into a public school where fees are cheaper but there is a language problem and Somalis are not really welcomed in the township. I have to borrow money from the brothers (Muslims),” said Abdul.

He said he had to take his oldest son, Hussen Mohamed, 16, who is in Grade 8, and younger brother, Ahmed Mohamed, 13, who is in Grade 5, to St Paul’s College in Southernwood.

Abdul said it seemed more affordable compared with other private schools, but he still could not manage to pay the fees from his income.

He spent about R2500 a term on each child and about R16 000 or more a year, which he struggled to pay off because at times his business did not do well.

“Even this past term they could not get their school reports because I have not paid the outstanding balance. There is not enough money in the business, because we are serving a handful of people (from Somali community).

“There is rent to pay, water and electricity which can amount to R6000 a month,” Abdul said.

He has enrolled his two daughters, Ayman Mohamed, 9, who is in Grade 4, and Ekraan Mohamed, 7, who is in Grade 3, at a Muslim school near the East London Mosque, and pays R500 for each child.

Abdul left Somalia when war erupted in 1992 and took his family to a refugee camp in Kenya.

South African Human Rights Commission deputy chairperson Dr Zonke Majodina, who has researched refugees’ children, said a large number of families were struggling to get education for their children.

She said in their findings from interviewing 119 Somali refugees in Gauteng “the most disturbing finding” was that 71.8 percent of school-going age children were not attending school.

Majodina said the primary reason for non-attendance was that parents could not afford school fees, while other reasons included a lack of fluency in English and previous schooling.

“Many children are ineligible for assistance with fees through the UNHCR because they have been in South Africa for more than two years.”

Fees for those in school were paid by parents, relatives, SASA and the Jesuit Refugee Service, Majodina said.

She said education was a constitutional right which should be granted to refugees and there should be interventions to assist Somali children. – By THANDUXOLO JIKA.  Pictures: MLONDOLOZI MBOLO

After the horrors of Mdantsane, a different picture is emerging in the townships near Port St Johns where the welcome mat is out

YOU’D have difficulty finding anyone in the Port St Johns area using the words Amagrigamba and Amakwerekwere.

Yet the curse words aimed at refugees and strangers are in common use in Mdantsane, where last week we investigated the plight of the Somali refugees.

Our series Dying to Live described the hardships and fear the Somalis endure in the township, where they live as virtual prisoners in their homes.

But since last Friday, the Dispatch has spent four days exploring another story: one of hope. It is being played out in Mthumbane Location at the Transkei Wild Coast town where Ethiopian refugees are finding promise in their new land.

“We only hear people that visit from the cities using words such as Amagrigamba against foreigners,” said Novesi Bangilizwe, who rents out flats to Ethiopians.

“They relate to us how bad foreigners are treated in the townships in the cities. But here we live peacefully with them because they are also human beings who are just trying to earn a living. They are part of our community.”

Her brother, Wild Coast lifesaver Sikhanyiso Bangilizwe was attacked and killed in a shark attack nearby in January.

Novesi said the Ethiopians assisted her family with her brother’s funeral.

Their pastor even arrived from Pretoria and conducted a service.

Mthumbane Community Policing Forum chairperson Bonginkosi Ntinini also told how they take part in community affairs.

They donated money to a family that had suffered a bereavement, enabling them to buy a coffin, he said.

And it was their community spirit that made them especially welcome.

“They live freely here and walk at whatever time carrying their goods and no one attacks them,” he said.

“They also give a hand in the community whenever they are needed because they are Christians and part of us.”

The refugees run spaza shops selling bedding and pots throughout Port St Johns and its surrounding villages. They are not threatened or spat upon, unlike the Somalis of Mdantsane, who dare not venture outside after dark.

Take Sunday night in Mthumbane Location as an example. Yalew Tessema’s spaza shop buzzed with customers and children playing outside as the full moon shone over them.

He was not bothered about the time as he continued to serve customers behind his open counter, often striking up small talk in broken IsiXhosa.

“There is nothing to be scared of in this place,” he said. “I can close at whatever time of the night if it is really busy. The people here are friendly. We can even sleep without locking our doors.”

The 38-year-old asylum seeker has been in the country for three years since he fled from Ethiopia because of political conflict. He lost contact with his mother and younger brother between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998.

Tessema said he was detained for political reasons, but managed to escape and take the tough journey south, avoiding border police in different countries.

“In South Africa, after getting my papers from Home Affairs, I started working with one of my brothers (countrymen), selling socks, T-shirts and bags on the streets of Johannesburg. I also worked in a spaza shop just to save some money.”

The dangerous nature of Johannesburg and the threat from criminals led to him moving to Flagstaff to sell his bedding and pots. And that’s how he found his way to Port St Johns. He decided to settle with a spaza shop while his countrymen continued selling bedding and pots to surrounding villages.

Two cars arrived as he closed the shop. They parked in the big yard which is surrounded by bush. The three men that got out were compatriots returning from selling and collecting money from their customers in the villages. They had left in the early hours of the morning, and been out all day.

We joined them that night, eating bread with goman – a combination of cabbage, meat and shakalaka – and, after a good night’s sleep, set out with them on a tour of the villages.

Desta Lemboro warned that it was going to be a tough day in the Wild Coast heat and that we should buy food and drink to last for the whole day.

After arriving in Tombo village, Lemboro stopped his bakkie and approached three women, telling them that he was selling blankets, duvets and pots. The friendly women told him they did not have money and were waiting for payday. He tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade them to t ake the goods on credit.

Lemboro then proceeded to the houses in the village. He stopped nearby as there are no access routes and carried his goods to some of the homes.

At each house he greeted the occupants in his limited isiXhosa. The villagers responded positively but, as the conversation deepened, he got more confused.

Despite the language barrier, there seemed to be understanding about his business and the methods of payment.

The secret to the story of hope in Mthumbane is built on them being part of the community: people dealing with people, helping each other to survive the daily hardships of life.

“We take them as one of our sons because they also bring help to our families,” said one of their customers, Thelma Maguga. “They have nothing to fear while they live with us in Mthumbane,” – By THANDUXOLO JIKA. Pictures: THEO JEPTHA

And they were carried out to consolidate the authority and power needed to further political and economic interests.

The attacks were part of broad structural and historical factors which include the legacy of institutional discrimination and generalised mistrust among citizens, police and the elected leaders.

The research was conducted by the Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of Witwatersrand.

Other factors identified for contributing to the violence which started in Gauteng in May 2008 are institutionalised practices that exclude foreigners from political participation and justice.

“Often premised on limited knowledge of and respect for the country’s laws and policies, these practices continue to criminalise and villainise foreign nationals and other ‘outsiders’,” says the report.

Researchers Jean Pierre Misago, Loren B Landau and Tamlyn Monson also identified a lack of trusted, prompt and effective conflict resolution mechanisms that led to vigilantism.

The research found that political vacuums or competition in community leadership encouraged the emergence of unofficial, illegitimate and often violent local leadership.

According to the study, these leaders enhanced their authority and power by reinforcing communities’ resentment towards what is perceived as “non-compliant” foreign nationals.

It was found that there is also a culture of impunity with regard to public violence in general and xenophobic violence, in particular.

“That encourages the ill-intentioned to attack non-nationals and other outsiders for personal and or political gain.”

There was little evidence to support early explanations that blamed the eruption of the violence on a “third force”, poor border control, changes in national political leadership, or rising food and commodity prices. But these factors may have contributed to generalised tensions.

Researchers could not explain why violence occurred in some places, not others. – By THANDUXOLO JIKA

DESPERATE refugees are being forced to pay bribes to corrupt Home Affairs officials to secure documentation which should be given to them for free.

During the Daily Dispatch’s investigation into the killings of Somalis we travelled to Port Elizabeth’s Refugee Reception Centre with two refugees trying to renew their documents and were present when bribes were paid.

The Dispatch reporter did not witness the transaction himself but details were recounted by one of the refugees.

“We had to each give the official inside R400 to get our permits renewed for two years. I know this is corruption, but we did not have a choice, otherwise we would have been here longer,” said one of the two men.

Refugee and asylum seekers’ permits are issued without payment in South Africa.

On Tuesday at the centre the Dispatch witnessed how the two men were rudely turned away by one of the officials and escorted out of the premises by a security guard.

“This is not Shoprite – go away,” shouted an official sitting at the foyer.

The two were chased by a security guard who said only 250 refugees were to be attended to each day and that the quota had been reached for the day.

The two men were left stranded and desperate after a three-hour drive in a packed taxi from East London, 300km away.

“These (permits) are expiring today. We have to renew them today. I cannot go back to East London without a new permit,” explained the refugee to the security guard.

But the guard would not hear any of it, and told them they should return the following day.

The sad, confused and worried men kept looking at their permits as if a miracle would happen.

They did not understand what the officials were going to be doing for the rest of the day as it was only 1.30pm and there were few refugees waiting outside.

“I can be arrested with this now. I do not understand why they cannot help us because it is still early and they are not doing anything,” said the disappointed man.

The two found accommodation with fellow Somalis in Port Elizabeth’s Korsten suburb and awoke the next morning to try again.

A cousin of the pair, hearing of their problems, offered to introduce them to some officials at the refugee office.

On the Wednesday morning the two men and their cousin skipped past the queue and walked straight inside the refugee centre without encountering the problems of the previous day.

The cousin told the security guard they were there to see a certain official. They asked the Dispatch not to accompany them.

After a few hours the two came back with broad smiles on their faces and two-year permits in their hands.

“This is supposed to be done for free but they make us pay. There is nothing we can do about it because if we want to be in the country we have to pay,” said one of the men.

A Somali refugee who arrived in the country in 2006 but who still holds an asylum-seeker permit said there are “middlemen”, or “brokers”, inside the refugee centre.

He said the brokers pretend to be interpreters but are actually the link between other refugees and the corrupt officials.

“These are my countrymen and I know what they do exactly but it is difficult for a stranger to understand their dealings. If you do not pay you end up being in my situation and live with asylum-seeker status. There are people from my country who came here last year but have refugee status, and I do not because I do not have the money,” he said.

He had to stay four days in Port Elizabeth awaiting yet another asylum-seeker permit, which was eventually renewed for three months.

Another Somali refugee who had been to the centre recently to renew his wife’s permit said he paid an official R200 . “I do not waste my time any more … in the queue. I just pay whatever they want because that is how we survive. You can spend days there, because officials turn you away if you do not give them money,” he said.

One of two Zimbabwean women waiting outside the centre for a compatriot said she had to return twice in one week . “ We have been sleeping here but they just take 24 people and tell us to come back tomorrow. ”

The refugee centre’s head, Sipho Lucas, said the bribes and payments were completely illegal. “Asylum-seeker and refugee permits are completely free, there is no charge. Refugees are vulnerable, so any person who uses them as a means to make money is a criminal,” said Lucas.

He promised to take action against the official if the two men came forward and identified him. “We are trying our level best to fight corruption. We will take every measure to deal with corrupt officials,” he said.

He referred the Dispatch to the department’s communications directorate for further comment.

Home Affairs spokesperson Joseph Mohajane promised to respond to the Dispatch’s questions from Tuesday, but his replies have not been received. – By THANDUXOLO JIKA

Speaking in Johannesburg at a public debate with other politicians on xenophobia and migration in South Africa, he also conceded that the State’s public education campaign following the wave of xenophobia attacks in May last year had not been effective.

Gigaba said there would be a “paradigm shift” in government policy regarding refugees and migrants away from “combat and control” to one of management. “The policy changes are going to begin soon after the election; there isn’t enough time now.” His department had already produced an initial internal draft of the policy which would be circulated later.

While he insisted that there would not be another wave of xenophobia- motivated attacks against migrants, as occurred last year, he did concede the government had more work to do in changing attitudes.

“The public education campaign is not there, not as extensive as I honestly would want to see it, but it is there,” he said of the campaign which the government promised following the attacks which shocked the world.

“We have been engaging with different communities, different methods, through media adverts, through community meetings, but what we don’t have at the moment (is a) sustained campaign that deals with the challenges of xenophobia.”

He also tackled criticism – and a factor identified during the Dispatch investigation into the murder of Somalis in South Africa – that existing policy towards refugees made them vulnerable to xenophobic attacks.

“The problem is not the policy per se,” he said. “The problem is the implementation of the policy: the fact that you have somebody who’s staying in the country for about five to 10 years without their status being finalised.

“As a result of this, there’s a lot of people who are being siphoned for money, who are being made to pay bribes, so that their status can be finalised,” he said.

The department was addressing this by, among other things, increasing the number of officials who deal with processing applications by refugees and migrants.

“We have (also) developed new IT systems so that we are able to expedite the finalisation of the status of the people and, of course, the dignity of the people,” he added. – By ANDREW TRENCH

Click here to listen to the Home Affairs Deputy Minister’s response
The deputy minister:
- reveals that government will change refugee and migrant policy from “controlling and combating” migrants to “managing” them after the election.
- admits the public education campaign after the xenophobia attacks had not been a success
- admits the inadequacies of the current refugee policies.

And she still cannot believe her son was capable of the crimes he was convicted of committing and for which he is serving two life sentences in Mdantsane Prison.

Today Sindiswa, 46, who makes ends meet by selling fruit and vegetables, says she is trying to understand how he was capable of such heinous acts, although he was violent from a young age, even stabbing his own uncle when he was only 12.

“I have been in pain and angry for a long time. I just pray to God that he keeps out of trouble in jail. I hope he has changed, indeed, because in the end he is my son despite the horrible things he has done,” said Sindiswa.

She spoke to the Dispatch in an emotional interview at her Mdantsane home, the same house in which Andile once killed a man before dumping his body in a nearby river.

Earlier this week we reported on the front page our interview with Andile in which he described how he became a cold killer targeting vulnerable Somalis.

His mother cannot understand why he targeted them.

“We never had anything against them because they are just like us,” said Sindiswa. “I even prefer buying from their shops because they are cheaper and are able to help me to take groceries on credit.”

She said in her eyes everyone was equal and should be treated without prejudice.

Andile held a different view.

His story, which ended in a bloody, criminal rampage against the amagrigamba, the derogatory term for Somalis and other foreigners in South Africa, began quite innocuously when, as a boy he was sent on an errand to buy sour milk for a neighbour.

Andile never returned to his Mdantsane home that day because he was ashamed after losing the neighbour’s money.

And that single act led him to a life of robbing and killing – and ultimately, to the slaughtering of Somalis.

By the time he was 15, the Grade 7 drop-out was already in and out of jail for crimes such as theft and housebreaking where he obtained guns.

This led him to his first murder – of a Mdantsane man in 2003 – after a row over a stolen vehicle. It was this man’s body that he dumped in a nearby river.

Sindiswa said she was just a teenager when she gave birth to Andile in 1982. She was forced to leave him in her mother’s care at the age of five in a village just outside East London.

But Andile’s behaviour deteriorated and he began skipping school as he grew older. Eventually, his mother took him to live with an uncle in Mdantsane.

“But then Andile stabbed my brother when he intervened in an argument about the Christmas clothes he had bought him. I was shocked because he was never violent before.”

She couldn’t believe someone so young – he was 12 – would do such a thing.

By the time he was in Grade 6 Andile left to live with his father, also in Mdantsane, but some distance from his uncle’s home. At this point Andile’s life took a turn towards the path of crime.

His father fled from him. “He told me he could not handle him any more because of his violent and criminal acts. It was so bad that he ran away himself, leaving Andile staying there by himself.”

Sindiswa said Andile returned to stay with her when he turned 15, but there were many rumours in the community that he was part of a gang robbing people.

The police were also becoming regular visitors to the house and Andile would be detained for days at a time.

“Then there was the incident of the guy that he killed here at home when I was in Grahamstown. I was shocked when police confronted me about someone being killed in my house.”

Sindiswa said Andile fled to a nearby village at the time.

Police arrested his younger brother, who eventually testified against him in his murder trial.

“The body of Andile’s victim was found in the river near here. The last thing I remember was when they showed me the body at the crime scene. I screamed in shock before collapsing. I did not sleep that night because I could not believe that my son was now a killer.”

Sindiswa’s life became “hell” after Andile escaped from police custody while the murder trial continued. “That was the worst time of my life,” she said. The police constantly visited her, asking for information about his whereabouts.

As she spoke, tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Most of the things that Andile has done have really traumatised me so much that I cannot even talk about them. I do not even visit him now. I only visited him once in 2007 when he called me.

“I told him that the letter of his life he had been writing had finally arrived to where he had sent it (to prison).

“I told him I had stopped trying to run after him and asking him to change his ways.

“ He calls me but I ignore his calls ….” – By Thanduxolo Jika

Click here to listen to the interview