Somalis traders fear for their lives

Somali traders in the Western Cape are "terrified" local traders will turn against them after hundreds of residents gathered in Franschhoek earlier this week and stoned foreign-owned businesses. (from IOL)

Aside from saying the incident stemmed from "a dispute about food prices", police have not indicated whether it was motivated by xenophobia.

Meanwhile, in a similar situation relating to food prices, local and foreign traders in Gugulethu are trying to reach an agreement after local traders insisted the Somalis, who they believe are taking over business in the area, increase the prices of their goods. On Thursday Mahad Omar Abdi, of the Somali Crisis Group, said they were terrified.

"We're in a terrible situation and are scared. What happened in Franschhoek is horrifying. And this just keeps on happening ... (The South Africans) want us to increase our prices, but we won't. We will not go ahead with it ... But we don't know what will happen to us next or where," he said.

Police spokesperson Bernadine Steyn said hundreds of residents, possibly up to 1000, had been involved in the four-hour clash in Franschhoek on Monday.

Special permit for Zimbabweans put on hold

The special permit for Zimbabwean migrants, announced by the South African government, is being put on hold pending a review of the decision by cabinet. (from IRIN)

The outgoing home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced in April 2009 that Zimbabwean migrants would be eligible for a special permit allowing them to stay legally in South Africa for six months.

Home Affairs Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba said at the time, "We have taken an important decision, which acknowledges that migration patterns between South Africa and Zimbabwe have probably changed permanently."

Home Affairs director-general of Immigration Services, Jackie MacKay, told local media: "The permit confers on them [Zimbabwean migrants] the right to stay in South Africa for a period of six months, it confers on them the right to schooling or education, it confers on them the right to work and access to basic health care."

But after South Africa's general election on 22 April, the new president, Jacob Zuma, appointed former foreign affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to the home affairs portfolio and the much heralded special permit system for Zimbabweans came under review.

Home Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa told IRIN: "The [home affairs] minister wanted cabinet to be briefed about the matter, about the scope and implications of that decision [to grant special permits to Zimbabweans], and we'll take it from there."

I see it coming. Zimbabweans will get 6 month papers and if caught in the country after that they will be deported. How much education can a person get in 6 months? Everyone is elated that the refugees will be given a 6 month reprieve.... BUT THEN WHAT?

How many Zimbabweans in South Africa?

South Africans share a common belief that large numbers of Zimbabweans have been streaming over the border, but how to handle this influx - and even how many Zimbabweans are in South Africa - is a source of disagreement. (from News24)

The number varies from a high of 9.84 millionm through 4.1 million. Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

"This perception produces feelings of helplessness and desperation among officials," concluded the Centre for Development and Enterprise which estimates the number of foreigners in Johannesburg to be only between 500 000 to 550 000.

"You’d think that if it was a large volume of people there’d be a lot of pressure to do something about it but it seems to work the other way around. I think certain government officials like it because it’s an excuse not to do anything because it's too big of a problem." Polzer said

There is a problem with Polzer's counting. If you read the article you will find that he is talking ONLY Zimbabwean MALES. Africa is not just filled with Zimbabwean males - there are women, children and the elderly too, not to mention OTHER countries!

Xenophobia still smoldering

"My worry is that my children are going to be slaves because they won't have anything. These foreign people come to South Africa with nothing, but tomorrow he has cash, third day he owns a shop and fourth day he has a car. Where do these foreign people get this money?" (from IPS News)

Small business owners are venting their frustrations on 'foreign nationals' - among them many Somalis - who own shops in the country's townships, causing experts to warn that xenophobic violence could increase.

Businesspeople from four of Cape Town's impoverished communities - Delft, Masiphumelele, Samora Machel and Gugulethu - held several meetings in late May and early June to discuss ways of ridding their communities of foreign-owned shops.

The meetings echo those held a year ago in the Gauteng townships of Atteridgville and Alexandra, shortly before over 150,000 foreign nationals were displaced by a wave of xenophobic violence that swept the country, killing 62 people with thousands more beaten or raped.

On Jun. 14 this year, an unidentified man delivered letters to all 'Somali' shops in Gugulethu, giving the shopkeepers until Jun. 20 to leave the area.

The handwritten, photocopied letters purported to come from the Gugulethu Business Forum, and even though some members distanced themselves from the letters, others accused Somali shopkeepers of having a deliberate agenda to 'kill off' local business.

"Somalians want to be the cheapest business people in town. If they see that am also pricing my goods like them they are going to find ways to undercut me," said one woman shopkeeper who declined to be named for this story.

"At the end of the day there is going to be a lot of trouble in my township. If I had money I would have left long time ago because there is no peace here. And those boys from Somalia have come and created more troubles," said another, who identified himself only as 'Boyce'.

Add the plans to remove 'Somali shopkeepers' to the steady number of attacks and murders of 'foreign nationals' and the mix becomes deadly, says Loren Landau, director of the University of the Witwatersrand's Forced Migration Studies unit.

"Violence against foreigners is rapidly becoming fully integrated into the standard politics of some townships," says Landau.

In May 2008, over 150,000 foreign national were displaced by a wave of xenophobic violence that swept the country, with thousands being murdered or raped.

But since the "officially recognised" outbreak of xenophobia ended last June, police have not kept official statistics of xenophobia-related murders, claiming instead that any deaths of foreign nationals are the result of South Africa's generally high crime rate.

This itself has fuelled xenophobia, says the Somali Association of South Africa.

"There is a culture of impunity developing. When Somali traders are murdered the police don't act on it. There is a perception that if people kill or do whatever to Somalis, nothing will happen to them," says the Somali Association of South Africa's Western Cape co-ordinator Hussein Omar.

Omar's fears appear to be borne out by recent events - in the last fortnight, two young Somali shop assistants were burnt to death, one Zimbabwean and one national of Bangladesh murdered, three shop assistants injured with gunshot wounds in Delft, and another 'Somali shop' in the Cape Town suburb Khayelitsha set alight.

In Gugulethu, a local activist group - the Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign - tried for three weeks to convince the Gugulethu Business Forum not to vent their anger on Somali shopkeepers, but instead to ask government why it was not doing more to support small business.

But the Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign's Mncedisi Twalo says after the businesspeople delivered the threatening letters to 'Somali' shops, he was forced to ask the police for a guarantee that they would protect the Somali shopkeepers.

The police have since arranged meetings between local businesspeople and the Somali shopkeepers, which they have closed to the media.

Omar fears that the actions of small groups of local businesspeople could become a catalyst for other people to vent their frustrations on 'foreign nationals'.

And Landau says that as people come to accept that it is legitimate to plot against "foreign" business people, "the violence will only spread".

Angolan refugee killed

The death of an Angolan has raised more questions about the safety of refugees at the Nyanga refugee centre.

Sebastian Santana, 29, was stabbed to death by unidentified men on Monday morning at the bridge near the centre.

Angolan refugee leader Joao Nascineto told the Cape Argus last night that Santana was on his way to the centre to renew his papers when he was approached by men who told him to go back to his country.

"They then tried to rob him and when he resisted, they stabbed him three times," Nascineto said.

He said refugees were concerned about xenophobic attacks in the area, and had asked that the centre be moved.

"If the location is not changed, more bodies are going to be seen there. My friend, colleague and my countryman has died, how many have to die until something is done about the centre?" Nascineto asked.

Braam Hanekom, chairperson of Passop (People against Suppression, Suffering, Oppression and Poverty), said it was not only the refugees but also the neighbouring businesses who wanted the centre moved.

Bishop Lavis police spokesperson Captain Marie Louw said police found Santana's body at about 10.20am in the field alongside Borcherd's Quarry Road.

"According the clerk at the Nyanga Home Affairs office, (Santana) had an appointment for 7am to renew his work permit," she said. Santana had apparently not been robbed, since he still had his cellphone, as well as R2 400 in his pocket.

"Police are investigating a murder case," Louw said.

A Somali shopowner was shot and killed in Guguletu on Monday night.

Police spokesperson Captain Elliot Sinyangana said four men entered the shop, then pulled out guns and demanded money. The shopowner was shot in the upper body and the men escaped with cash, cigarettes and airtime.

Sinyangana said that at a meeting called by the police in the area on Tuesday, local shopowners distanced themselves from the incident, saying it was a straight criminal case.

- Cape Argus

Foreign traders threatened once again.....

Gugulethu traders have delivered warning letters to Somali shopkeepers telling them they have seven days to leave the area. (from IOL)

Identical acts of intimidation preceded last year's outbreak of xenophobic violence, and foreign traders living and working in informal settlements fear they may again be violently ejected from their homes. An urgent meeting between Gugulethu police and foreign and local business owners has been set up for Monday to try to quell the tensions and avert another outbreak of violence.

A study released a few days ago by the City of Cape Town found there were tensions between local and foreign spaza shop traders in Khayelitsha because foreigners were professionally "more efficient" and that this upset local traders, who felt business was being snatched from them.

The recent letters come as the City of Cape Town is offering programmes to develop local and foreign traders' skills.

On Sunday, Mncedisi Twalo, spokesperson for the Anti-Eviction Campaign, which has joined forces with local and foreign traders to try to ease tensions between the two groups, said "business rivalry" was again causing problems.

He said despite a number of meetings aimed at getting locals and foreigners in Gugulethu to work together, Somali traders in the area had received letters on Saturday from local business owners "telling them they have seven days to vacate the area".

Twalo said a group of Somalis who felt threatened had gone immediately to the Gugulethu police station.

Elliot Sinyangana, the station's spokesperson, said officers had received "a surprise visit" from the Somalis.

"The letter (they showed) us was very informal," he said.

"In it locals said they wanted the Somalis out of the area in seven days. There was no name on it, there was no letter head and it didn't say who it was from.

"It's the same old story. According to (the locals) the Somalis are taking over business in the area."

Sinyangana did not know how many warning letters had been distributed. Although the Somalis had not lodged a formal complaint, he said police were investigating.

He said residents had seen someone in a white bakkie dropping off the letters and some of the Somali shopkeepers had managed to take down its registration number.

"We traced the (number plate) to a bakkie, but this was outside a business nothing like that run by the Somali or local traders."

Sinyangana said after investigations it appeared a duplicate number plate had been used on the bakkie that delivered the letters.

Police had therefore not yet been able to trace the distributor, but Sinyangana said officers had spoken to local traders and warned them that if they distributed such letters it would be viewed as intimidation and they would face legal action.

He said an urgent meeting between police, local and foreign traders had been set up for today.

"We want to kill this problem and see that everyone is bound by a decision by the end of the meeting," he said.

The Somali Association of South Africa's deputy chairman, Abdi Adan, said he had heard about the letters.

"We got some papers telling us to leave our shacks in seven days. (The shopkeepers) do feel threatened. This is not the first time this is happening. We've had similar kinds of intimidation. It's hectic.

"The main problem coming from the local business owners is jealousy."

The city's executive director for economic, social development and tourism, Mansoor Mohamed, said it was found that "the root cause of trader tension was mainly the lack of entrepreneurial ability among local shopowners and not necessarily xenophobia".

Xenophobic violence hit the city in May last year and about 20 000 foreigners fled informal settlements. In the months leading up to the violence, warning letters telling foreigners to leave were distributed in the informal settlements.

Foreigners 'used' to distribute drugs

Drug lords in Durban are exploiting foreign workers by paying them as little as R30 a day to get their drugs ready for distribution. (from IOL)

"Foreigners coming into this country are desperate and are easily abused for criminal purposes. They are prepared to do just about anything to make sure that they have their day's meal and money to get them through."

When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”

Revelation 6:5-6

Fear remains a year after xenophobic violence

Sreaming and the sound of shots flare up in the background while scores of petrified foreigners, fear evident in their eyes, run out of the dark informal settlement as police helicopters hover above.

A year later: it's daytime, all is calm in Du Noon and children can be heard playing.

But a Somali man stands alone in his shop with the fearful look still in his eyes, and he flinches as a group of locals walk by, talking loudly.

'No, they don't belong here. They should go'

For 19-year-old Makaraan Mohamed, and many other foreign nationals living in Western Cape informal settlements, a year may have gone by but the feeling of being a target has remained.

On May 22 last year xenophobic violence spread to the Western Cape and erupted in the Du Noon informal settlement, with locals forcing foreign nationals to flee.

By the next day the violence had spread to a number of settlements and three days later at least 20 000 foreigners had been forced from their homes. Currently, although the situation has stabilised and the majority of foreigners have returned to the settlements, many fear that simmering tensions may lead to similar violence.

A meeting was held in Gugulethu this week to discuss these fears and last week two Somali men burnt to death in their shop in Darling in what locals believe was a xenophobic attack.

Speaking from his Du Noon shop, which was trashed during last year's violence, Mohamed said he still felt uneasy about being back in the settlement. "Sometimes the people around here tell me to get out. Right now it's okay but I'm scared the same like last year will happen," he said.

Mohamed stayed at the Blue Waters safety camp for three months but then returned to Du Noon as he "had nowhere else to go".

Further down the road, a Somali shopkeeper, standing behind a thick wire grid barring people from entering his shop, shook his head when asked about the violence. "I don't want to think about that. Ever," was all he would say.

In Gugulethu, shop owner Hassan Abdi said although locals bought items from him, they sometimes told him to "get out" of the area.

Mncedisi Twalo, an Anti-Eviction Campaign spokesperson, said yesterday locals had been complaining that they were losing business to foreigners. "Some say they are prepared to act violently to get back their business," he said.

Police spokesperson Elliot Sinyangana said more police officers were being deployed in case violence broke out. Meanwhile, in Nyanga a local woman selling aprons said she felt foreigners in the area should "just be left alone".

As she said this, though, a friend shook her head and said: "No, they don't belong here. They should go." Three others nodded in agreement.

- Cape Times