Mugabe criticises migrant workers at southern African summit

Attacks on immigrants living in South Africa dominated a regional summit in Zimbabwe on Wednesday, with President Robert Mugabe criticising workers who seek new lives in Johannesburg and other South African cities.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting was meant to discuss industrial growth, but attention focused on recent xenophobic violence in Johannesburg and Durban in which at least seven people have been killed.

Thousands of immigrants in South Africa were displaced by the unrest this month as local mobs targeted workers from countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.

The presidents of all three of those countries -- and South Africa's President Jacob Zuma -- were among the 10 heads of state at the one-day event in Harare.

"Long ago, going to South Africa was like going to heaven on earth," Mugabe told reporters after the summit.

"The majority of our people go to work on farms. Then they run away from farms to start new lives in the cities. But why do that? People must get back to their own countries.

"Our people should not have the instinct of rushing into South Africa."

Mugabe said Zuma had briefed delegates on the attacks and measures taken to prevent them reoccurring.

"What we can do in the circumstances is not just to criticise but also to assist the government and people of South Africa," Mugabe said, striking a conciliatorily note after weeks of fractious regional relations

AFP