Congolese man stabbed in Cape Town tavern

In a xenophobic attack, a Congolese man was repeatedly stabbed in a Du Noon tavern on Sunday because he refused to buy beer for a trio of South Africans.Nyangoma Etasha, 27, was lucky to escape with his life after being stabbed four times: in his head, chest and arms after his attackers told him they would show him South Africa was their country.

Shaking with shock and trying to stem the blood from his wounds, Etasha said he had been having drinks with a friend at the tavern, and when his friend left him alone in order to go to the toilet, three men at a nearby table demanded he buy them beer.

When he refused, the trio started manhandling him and searching his pockets, he said.

They told him: “iMzansi wethu. Ndizakubonia ngoku (South Africa is ours. We will show you now).”

Etasha said two of the men pulled out knives and stabbed him while the third started throwing empty beer bottles around the tavern, causing a stampede as the approximately 200 patrons rushed to exit the single door.

After attacking Etasha the men calmly walked out of the tavern. As they sauntered down the street, their clothes spattered with blood, this reporter saw residents smiling at them as they walked by.

A pool of blood could be seen beneath the table Etasha and his friend Ted Ndayesenga were sitting at. The tavern closed for two hours while it was mopped up.

Ndayesenga, who drove Etasha to Somerset Hospital for treatment, said his friend was attacked simply because he was buying “plenty of beers”.

Tavern owner Alfred Jezile condemned the attack and said he was considering introducing a system of membership cards for patrons to avoid criminals drinking in his establishment.

Milnerton police station spokesperson Daphne Dell said no stabbing incident of that nature was reported to them, but encouraged Etasha to open a case against his attackers.

— West Cape News

Fury as police round up foreigners

Human rights groups have expressed their outrage at a massive crime blitz in Hillbrow this week that saw police officers round up foreign nationals, mainly Zimbabweans, while Home Affairs officials screened and fingerprinted them.

On Thursday, the 1 000-strong police squad launched dawn raids targeting hijacked buildings in Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville, embarking on stop-and-search drills for its festive anti-crime campaign, Operation Duty Calls.

They were led by National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele and Police Minister Nathi Mthetwa and accompanied by Home Affairs officials and the SA Revenue Service.

But Gina Snyman, the head of the immigration detention project at Lawyers for Human Rights, said the operation appeared to contradict the Department of Home Affairs’s amnesty for Zimbabweans living in South Africa illegally, in place until December 31.

“The SAPS should be well be aware of this (amnesty) process. It’s high time the police engaged in real crime-combating. They have much more serious obligations, protecting all people in South Africa.

“It will only end up in more people going underground.”

The Star reported that the police stormed hijacked flats and rounded up residents, who were assessed by officials and split into separate groups, with Zimbabweans forming the bulk of the group.

Home Affairs officials screened the residents and the police loaded them into vans if they were found to be in the country illegally, or with a criminal record.

“It smacks of bad faith and is cause for serious alarm,” said Snyman. “We’ve also had alarming reports that Zimbabweans going to police stations to get information about the amnesty have been summarily arrested and charged.”

Dr Jo Vearey, a researcher at the Forced Migration Studies Programme at Wits, said such crackdowns were “entirely a media exercise feeding popular paranoia”.

“It further stigmatises groups trying to function in the city. There is positive work in Hillbrow – health interventions and social housing interventions, but those aren’t given the airtime.

“These raids aren’t useful in the long run. They’re nothing but a media circus. They create big tension in a small community… and that can trigger other problems.

“A lot of people are trying to reclaim the inner space so it can be somewhere we can all live and work.”

Mthetwa said he was disappointed at the state of Hillbrow. “We want to clean up Hillbrow and we want ordinary citizens to move into the area so they can be close to their place of employment.”

Veary said: “We’ve tried hard in our research on migration in Joburg to break down the stereotype that Hilllbrow is full of illegal activities.”

The perception remained that foreigners gathered there and engaged in drugs or sex work. “There are people who live in Hillbrow and function there like any other place in the city. It’s a residential suburb, home to families and individuals who work in the city.

“If they’re (the police are) targeting what they call hijacked buildings, then there’s quite serious issues. We know foreign migrants are discriminated against in terms of renting in the city … But they run the city, contribute to the city and live in the city.

“These inner city communities are fragile. In a space where building up trust with your community and neighbour isn’t always easy, the impact on these communities is incredibly traumatic.”

- IOL

Somalian shot dead in Khayelitsha – nothing stolen

Somalians in Khayelitsha say they are wondering which one of their countrymen in the township will be killed next after Somalian shopkeeper Cyrix Man was shot on Tuesday night.Man, 23, was shot twice in the head on the street outside his shop on Endlovini Street, in Khayelitsha C-Section at about 11pm last Tuesday, and died in hospital at about 3.30am on Wednesday morning.

Man’s friend Abduul Bush said Man was shot in the back of the head and it seems he was running away from his killers when the shots were fired.

Bush said nothing was stolen from Man’s shop, which was open at the time, and only his cellphone was taken.

“These people know us, they know our opening and closing time. We been reporting cases like this to the police but they are not doing anything.”

Another Somalian living in Khayelitsha, Feleke Abula Debore said: “We are living in fear now. We are wondering who’s going to be next. We came to South Africa to survive not to die.”

Nine Somalians interviewed in Khayelitsha after the incident said they don’t know what to do because the police are not doing anything to help them.

Khayelitsha’s Somalia Retailers Association chairperson Abbi Ahmed said more than 22 Somalian’s had been killed in the past three months.

But South African resident Sandiso Ntlanganiso said it was not only Somalians who were at risk from crime in the area.

“Every one is a target especially if you working night shift or early in the morning. People cry everyday here but the police are doing nothing.” said Ntlanganiso.

He said police patrols needed to be stepped up in Khayelitsha to reduce crime.

Harare police station spokesperson Constable Nosiphiwo Mntengwane said it was “risky” for Man to be trading from his shop late at night.

She said police were investigating a case of murder. – West Cape News