MBABANE – The ongoing xenophobic attacks in South Africa have forced two Ethiopians to come to the kingdom, seeking asylum.
The Ethiopians claimed to be victims of xenophobia in Mayflower, South Africa (SA).
Yosef Abeje (36) and Tariku Mergia (41) arrived in the country on Tuesday, through an illegal entry point.
They said they ran away from Mayflower on Monday and fled to Piet Retief, where they spent one day and continued with their journey to Swaziland to seek asylum.
They said they have been in South Africa for the past 15 years and their wives and children left last Friday for Cape Town when the attacks started.
The men said they lost everything they owned in SA after their two grocery shops were vandalised by the locals and everything looted.
All their clothes and important documents were burnt during the attack which, according to them, started when some Somalians had a disagreement with the SA nationals.
They claimed to have been attacked after being mistaken for the Somalis.
When asked if they would want to return to their country of origin, they responded to the negative.
In fact, they said they did not even want to return to SA.
“We tried to run to the police in SA but they told us that we should leave because the community outnumbers the police within the area and they could not control them when we are being attacked so they suggested that we go to the neighbouring towns.
“We followed a lady when we got to Mahamba Border, who told us that we would not be allowed to walk through the gate if we did not have passports and we would be arrested.
“So she took us to a mountain where there were soldiers whom we informed of our problem and they let us through. We took a taxi after crossing into the country and a man gave us a place to sleep.
“We were told to go to Manzini Police Station where they would help us. A police car brought us to Mbabane after we had explained everything and we were informed that we would be helped here,” Abeje stated.
