South Africa appeal on xenophobia

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South Africa's government has denied claims that little has been done to tackle xenophobia a year after a deadly wave of attacks on migrants began.

The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants urged new President Jacob Zuma to tackle the problem.

Last year's attacks left more than 60 people dead in the worst violence since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The consortium says the violence has not stopped and repeated its call for a public inquiry into the attacks.

Thousands were displaced when mobs turned on their neighbours in the township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg.

'Vigilantism rife'

Foreigners, in particular Mozambicans and Zimbabweans, bore the brunt of the attacks but 21 South Africans mistaken by mobs for foreigners were among the dead.

Presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe said no inquiry was needed and that everything necessary had been done to address the problem.

He said such attacks have been rare in the last year, and that measures were in place to stop them happening again.

Hangwani Mulaudzi, from the Ministry of Police, told the BBC the problem had not been forgotten, but that most recent attacks on foreigners were criminal and not motivated by hate.

Earlier, Duncan Breen, of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants, said in a statement: "Little has been done by authorities to address the root causes of the violence and as a result, threats of violence against foreigners remain common in some communities."

He said vigilantism was still a problem, mentioning a case in Durban where two foreigners were allegedly forced to jump to their deaths from a high-rise building as an example.

A ward councillor was among those charged in connection with the deaths.