HARARE – Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has made startling claims deadly xenophobic attacks that targeted Zimbabweans and other African migrants in the neighbouring country back in 2008 were triggered by Zimbabwe’s opposition which allegedly sought to drive Zimbabweans back into the country to vote Zanu PF out of power.

Mbeki, who was President from 1999 to 2008, was addressing students at the University of South Africa in Johannesburg last week.

He singled out Alexandra, a sprawling, poor township in South Africa’s commercial capital of Johannesburg, widely regarded as the epicentre of the attacks.

“Historically, the African community here (South Africa) has never been xenophobic about other Africans,” Mbeki said.

“So, 2008 all manner of trouble breaks out in Alexandra township in Johannesburg, attacks on these foreigners, particularly Zimbabweans.

“Then it spread elsewhere. Xenophobia, Afrophobia. So, I say when I saw that, as president, I recognised that this is not Alexandra township. Alexandra, for decades, has had Zimbabweans and Mozambicans, and so on. There was never ever this kind of conflict.

“Why? There is a mistake we made as government, and that is not to declassify an intelligence document about what happened in Alexandra in 2008. That thing was organised to drive the Zimbabweans out of the country back to Zimbabwe because there were elections in Zimbabwe.”

The May 2008 violence claimed at least 44 lives, displaced 20,000 people, and left countless victims injured and robbed of their property.

Zimbabwe had its harmonised elections in March 2008 but the presidential election failed to produce an outright winner leading to what also turned to become a violent campaign period towards a June 2008 run-off poll between first round winner Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition MDC (now defunct) and the then incumbent President Robert Mugabe.

The violence was linked to Zanu PF militant supporters who were keen to stop the now late Tsvangirai from running away with victory.

Mbeki said South African intelligence reports found the genesis of the xenophobic attacks in South Africa as closely intertwined with a Zimbabwean opposition attempt to boost its vote in the June 2008 poll.

South Africa, according to statistics, is host to Zimbabwe’s largest migrant population.

It is widely believed that the majority of those who left the country in the past 24 years of Zimbabwe’s economic upheaval were driven out by poverty under the Zanu PF led authority and would, accordingly grant the opposition a protest vote.

Mbeki said the xenophobic attacks were intended to drive Zimbabweans back to their homeland to vote Mugabe out.

“They were organised, systematic and planned for political purposes. People were being driven out; they were going to vote against Bob (Mugabe) there.

“There is an intelligence report which has got the names and the dates and venues where people met and planned this and so on. It is presented as a xenophobic attack by the people of Alex against others: it was wrong,” he said.

Mbeki is not new to controversial utterances.

During the political stalemate that rocked Zimbabwe between the March 2008 harmonised elections and the June run-off poll, Mbeki invited outrage from among Zimbabweans through claims “there is no crisis in Zimbabwe”.

During his tenure, Mbeki also disputed the scientific consensus that HIV is the cause of AIDS.