Ghanaian In South Africa Now Sleeping On The Streets After Business Attacked And Destroyed
- A Ghanaian salon owner lost everything in anti-immigrant attack and is now living on the streets with her son
- Adjei faced xenophobia despite her long-standing ties to South Africa, dating back to when she was a child
- Violence against African migrants has escalated, causing deaths and diplomatic tensions across the continent
Don't miss out! Get your daily dose of sports news straight to your phone. Join YEN's Sports News channel on WhatsApp now!
A 33-year-old Ghanaian is now sleeping on the streets after suffering an attack on her business, robbing her of her livelihood.
Princess Adjei's hair salon in Durban was vandalised and looted during an anti-immigrant march on May 18.
Source: UGC
She told Reuters that despite living in South Africa since she was a toddler, even people she knew started demanding that she go "home"
Adjei did all her schooling in South Africa, has local friends and speaks Zulu, the lingua franca of this eastern port city. It had rarely occurred to her that she was an outsider.
Adjei is one of scores of victims of attacks on mostly African foreign nationals accused by an anti-immigration movement of being in South Africa illegally. Many of them have legal papers and deep roots here.
"They took everything," Adjei said to Reuters after taking stock of the damage to her shop.
Adjei said she spent over $3,000 renovating the salon in February. The losses mean she has moved out of her apartment.
"Without the salon .... I don't have money for rent."
She and her 14-year-old son now sleep next to 200 other migrants on the street.
They have set up camp outside the office of the government's Department of Home Affairs, hoping officials there will be able to confirm their residency status.
Other Africans have fled towns and cities and taken refuge on mountains and rough ground amid violence that has killed at least five and caused a diplomatic rift with the rest of the continent.
This was the third time she had experienced the xenophobia that periodically convulses South Africa.
She first was when she was bullied in school during protests in 2008 by classmates who'd previously had no interest in her nationality.
Source: YEN.com.gh
