Zimbabwe’s two home affairs ministers will meet soon to discuss the reported continuation of human rights violations and xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans living in South Africa.

Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa confirmed the meeting, saying the issue was of “special interest” to both the government and the country as a whole. “I will soon meet with my co-minister, Mr Kembo Mohadi, to draft a plan on how to assist our fellow countrymen living under squalid conditions in South Africa, as this is an issue of special interest to us,” said Mutsekwa.

For the past four months, more than 2000 Zimbabweans have been living in makeshift structures and tents pitched on a football pitch in De Doorns near Cape Town in the Western Cape, after they were forcibly evicted from their homes by angry South Africans. The South Africans claimed that Zimbabweans who were working on farms were accepting lower wages, hence creating unemployment for the locals, who are demanding higher wages.

Wielding axes and machetes, mobs of South Africans burnt down homes belonging to Zimbabweans, leaving them with no option but to settle on the football pitch.

According to recent media reports, the South African police launched a raid in Johannesburg’s central business district and Hillbrow last week, where they arrested illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe. The police also raided several flats and buildings in Hillbrow, in search of illegal immigrants.

The Zimbabweans complained that police were using unwarranted force and aggression.