Canaan Mdletshe

Canaan Mdletshe

KwaZulu-Natal police have slammed reports that Sunday's attack on three foreigners were acts of xenophobia, saying this could inflame passions.

This follows the death of Victor Zowa of Zimbabwe, and Omar Said of Tanzania, after they fell from a high-rise building when they tried to escape a 150-strong mob wielding pangas and knobkerries. A third person, Eugene Madondo, of Zimbabwe, also jumped from the building but survived.

Provincial police director Phindile Hadebe criticised the media, saying it has created the notion that the incidents were xenophobic.

Hadebe said journalists had not reported an incident on the previous day, when a mob confronted a South African whom they accused of stealing a cellphone.

Police said yesterday that a man had been arrested in connection with two counts of murder and one of attempted murder arising from the mob attack.

The suspect was yesterday due to appear in the Durban magistrate's court.