AmaMpondo vs AmaZulu

Last night at about 11:30 a group of about 40 heavily armed men attacked the Abahlali baseMjondolo office in the Kennedy Road settlement where the movement was holding an all night camp for the Youth League.

The men who attacked were shouting:

'The AmaMpondo are taking over Kennedy. Kennedy is for the AmaZulu.”

Some people were killed. We can't yet say exactly how many. Some are saying that three people are dead. Some are saying that five people are dead. Some people are also very seriously injured. They broke everything that they could.

The Sydenham police were called but they did not come. This has led some people to conclude that this was a carefully planned attack on the movement and that the police knew in advance that it had been planned and stayed away on purpose. Why else would the police refuse to come when they are being called while people are being openly murdered? When the attack happened one officer from Crime Intelligence was there in plain clothes.

Somalis fear for their lives

The plight of Somalis in the Blikkiesdorp emergency camp in Delft is worsening as they say they are now terrified of even leaving their houses to look for food.

A 60-year-old mother says sometimes at night people bang on the wall of her State-supplied tiny, single-roomed zinc dwelling without bathroom or toilet and shout "Somalians, go away".

"We can't go outside because it's very dangerous," said a frightened 30-year-old woman who asked not to be named.

Delft police spokesman Joe Wilson said no compaints of violence had been reported to them.
"But we are monitoring the situation there closely," he added.

Police regularly patrol the area, Wilson said.

The 30-year-old and 26 other Somalis have been staying in Blikkiesdorp for the past three weeks, in appalling conditions. There is no electricity or running water in their corrugated iron structures. The woman and her family sleep on the floor and smoke from the paraffin stove is a health hazard to her children, including a month-old baby. - The Cape Times

Mob attack sparks fear of xenophobic violence

Tensions are running high after two men were murdered in a mob attack at the Kennedy Road informal settlement on Sunday, sparking fears of xenophobia and retaliation attacks.

A local community organisation claims the attacks were as a result of xenophobia - with Xhosas being told to leave the largely Zulu community.

Police, however, were adamant the murders were not xenophobia-related but could have been committed by vigilantes.

Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Willies Mchunu was at the scene late last night trying to calm the community, and stopped the crowd from taking the law into their own hands.

Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack-dwellers' movement) (AbM) spokesperson Mzwakhe Mdlalose said: "The men were shouting, 'The AmaMpondo are taking over Kennedy. Kennedy is for the amaZulu'."

"Many people are also seriously injured. The attackers broke everything that they could, including the windows of the (Clare Estate Community) hall.

"They destroyed 15 houses before launching their attack. They were knocking on each door shouting, 'All the amaZulu must come out' and then destroying the shacks," he said.

Mthokozisi Ndlovu and Ndumiso Mnguni were killed after members of the Kennedy Road Development Committee were attacked by a group of about 40 armed men early on Sunday morning, according to AbM.

Eight suspects were arrested by police hours after the killings and police fired rubber bullets to settle the unruly crowd as they scoured the area for suspects.

Tension in the community flared up again late last night, forcing Mchunu, to step in to reassure the shack-dwellers...

- Daily News

Somali shop owner's death 'not surprising'

Three suspects were behind bars after the body of a Somali shop owner was found dumped in an open field in the Khayelitsha area yesterday morning.

Mohammed Mohammed Abdi, 28, was off-loading stock at his store in Mfuleni when two gunmen opened fire and wounded him and the driver of the bakkie, police reported.

The men jumped into the vehicle and drove away with Abdi still on the back of the bakkie, but left the injured driver behind.

The men drove to a field just behind Ilitha Park in Mew Way and dumped the body in the long grass, barely hidden from the public.

Police spokesperson Andre Traut said: "Through our investigation after the shooting incident was reported, we managed to find out from community members in Khayelitsha where the body was."

By afternoon, the body was still lying there, covered with a cloth with the victim's shoes next to it.

Abdi Ahmed Aden, of the Somali Association of South Africa (Sassa) and a close friend of Abdi, said: "The body has been lying there since 10am. We do not know what is taking the morgue van so long."

He said he was "terribly pained" at the killing as Abdi was a good man just earning a living. He added, though, that he was not surprised that another Somali had lost his life.

"Last week, a similar situation took place in Delft, where a shop owner was shot dead after a robbery," Aden said.

Another Somali man called the shooting "inhuman". "Even the community members in Mfuleni who knew Abdi feel the same way. We are scared beyond capacity," he said.

The suspects, aged 18 to 23, were found via a tracking device on the bakkie. They were cleaning the blood from the vehicle when they were caught.

They are being detained on charges of murder, attempted murder and robbery.

Meanwhile, the Somalis who were threatened with being set alight by local residents if they did not move out of Blikkiesdorp in Delft, fear for their lives.

A Somali women said that, despite her fear, she was happy the police kept them safe.

She added: "I still don't go out of my house, and I always make sure my children are inside. I want to go back home."

She said no word had come from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees about sending them home.

Their lawyer, William Kerfoot, was unavailable for comment about the steps being taken to help the refugees.

- Cape Times

Residents threaten Somali refugees

Somalis relocated from the Bluewaters refugee camp near Strandfontein to Blikkiesdorp emergency camp in Delft, fear for their lives after being threatened with being burnt alive for allegedly jumping the housing queue.

This after residents demonstrated, and claimed the Somalis were taking their homes.

A fearful Somali woman, who did not want to be named said they had been in Blikkiesdorp for two days and now they desperately wanted to be repatriated to Somalia.

'At Bluewaters we were safe, we had water and clean toilets'

"We have already spoken to the UNHRC (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and they said they will move us but we must be patient."

She has two children, one only 13 days old, the other two.

"Last night (Tuesday) a crowd of people came to us and started asking all kinds of questions, like why we were there and how we managed to get houses so quickly when they have been on the waiting lists for months," she said.

She added that when they returned inside, the crowd started throwing stones at their dwelling made of corrugated iron and shouted that if they do not move they will burn them.

Her brother who also did not want his name mentioned, said: "At Bluewaters we were safe, we had water and clean toilets. Here we don't have water, there is no electricity and no proper toilets."

Beverley Jacobs, a Blikkiesdorp community leader, said: "Work is being done in terms of electricity, poles are being put up. Most of the toilets do not work, but we have put the matter forward to the council."

She said she had sympathy for the Somalis because when she first arrived in Blikkiesdorp, she had the same problems and the City of Cape Town took a while to do something about it.

Thando Swartz, a resident and also part of the committee, said: "The city must come and fix things in Blikkiesdorp. It is unsafe here especially at night because there is no electricity."

William Kerfoot, the Somalis' legal representative, said he had met them and they decided to stay one more night in Blikkiesdorp and will decide on their next step today.

SAPS and Metro Police set up an office in Blikkiesdorp to ensure residents were safe.

- Cape Times