Johannesburg - City officials in South Africa's capital Pretoria burnt the makeshift homes of over 300 refugees of last year's spate of deadly xenophobic violence on Monday, to force them to vacate a camp.

Black smoke billowed over the refugee camp north of the city, where 382 people who fled attacks on foreigners last year had been staying. A spokesman for the city confirmed to reporters that city officials had set fire to their shacks, the South African Press Association reported.

The refugees were initially being accommodated in tents but the city had dismantled the tents after deciding in August last year, three months after the attacks, to close the facility. The refugees had refused to leave and built shacks.

At least 62 people were killed last year and tens of thousands fled their homes when mobs in poor communities turned on African migrants in their midst, accusing them of taking scarce jobs and public housing.

Many of the victims were beaten or burnt to death.

Temporary shelters were set up around Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town to accommodate the displaced but they were dismantled within a few months and the refugees told to return to their communities.

Many have been too afraid to return, citing still-high levels of anti-foreigner sentiment and continuing cases of suspected xenophobic attacks.

Seven Zimbabweans, four men and three women, were found dead earlier this month after their shack in Western Cape province was set alight in a suspected xenophobic attack.

Some of the refugees that were evicted from the camp near Pretoria on Monday were to be taken to a UN-run shelter in Johannesburg.

The remainder have been given a small sum of money to find alternative accommodation. (dpa)