South African police have arrested 17 people after attacks on foreign nationals in Durban.

The violence comes in the wake of alleged comments by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini that migrants should go home — although he says he was mistranslated.

But Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has called on traditional leaders to stop making remarks that “could result in a loss of life”.

“Africa in particular must not think that we hate fellow Africans so much that we are prepared to cause them harm”

he said.

Following the alleged comments by King Zwelithini at the end of March, more than 1,000 mainly African migrants have fled their homes, some going to police stations and others being housed in tents on a sports field.

South African President Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward, has come out in support of the Zulu king.

“We need to be aware that we are sitting on a ticking time bomb,” he said, adding that foreigners were “taking over the country”.

Raphael Baheybwa-Kambambire, president of lobby group Congolese Solidarity Campaign, told the BBC that religious leaders met with the Zulu monarch on Thursday who told them he was talking “about those who don’t have papers and documentation in South Africa”.

As the violence against foreign immigrants spread, two Somalis suffered serious burns when their shop in Umlazi, south of Durban, was petrol bombed on Friday night by a mob, police said Saturday.

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Source: Daily Nation