Zuma pledges help to victims of South Africa attacks

By Paul Simao

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African ruling party leader Jacob Zuma on Friday comforted the children of African migrants displaced in a wave of xenophobic attacks, pledging to help them and their families rebuild their lives.

"We are here for you," the ANC leader told Olga Khoza as he cuddled her 4-month-old son, Amadinho, at a police station south of Johannesburg that has become a makeshift shelter for hundreds who fled their homes in fear of violence this month.

The Mozambican woman said her family lost all their belongings when mobs went on the rampage in their shantytown two weeks ago. They have slept on the ground, first outside and now in tents.

Dozens of migrants have been killed and tens of thousands forced into shelters around the country. The violence, which has subsided, targeted newcomers to South Africa as well as those who had been here for decades.

Analysts say competition for housing and jobs combined with soaring food and fuel prices raised the tensions that sparked the riots. Unemployment in South Africa hovers around 24 percent.

Carole Kaumba-Makoma, a 9-year-old girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was among those attacked.

"They beat her and tried to take her clothes," Zuma told Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, after the child recounted her tale. Madikizela-Mandela accompanied Zuma on his visit.

He later told reporters he was saddened by the plight of the refugees but added the government, African National Congress and civic groups were "on top of the situation".