Mob sets fire to shops

Cape Town - A mob of angry Joe Slovo residents have set fire to several containers, mostly owned by foreigners, accusing them of using their businesses as a front to sell drugs.

Residents said their actions on Sunday were not a xenophobic attack, but an attempt to rid the community of drugs and to claim back land.

Joe Slovo Park, off Koeberg Road in Milnerton, is a small township made up of brick houses and shacks.

Residents blocked roads leading into the area with burning tyres and placed about 10 shipping containers in the area’s main road, then set fire to them.

SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) chairperson, Mncedisi Jibe, said residents did not understand why houses could not be built on land occupied by the foreign-owned shops.

Jibe claimed residents had proof that people operating their businesses from containers had been dealing in drugs and that this was the reason why they wanted them out.

“We are burning any containers in sight because they are on our land,” Jibe said.

He said the land on which those businesses operated belonged to the people of Joe Slovo and that they wanted it back. “We are burning them because when we put our shacks on here, law enforcement removes them,” he said.

Hairdressers, barbers and mechanics operating from the area were angered by Sunday’s attack.

Dolanti Kamana said that he had returned from church to find that his mother’s salon was among the containers which had been destroyed.

“The police were there but they didn’t do anything. They just watched. I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Kamana said.

“My mom is very upset and angry, but she is trying not to show it,” he added.

Kamana said he was preparing for an engineering exam and was not able to concentrate after his mother’s business container was torched.

“We weren’t there when it happened, but we think they threw something in the window and burnt the container like that. We didn’t have time to get some of the stuff like TVs and hairdryers out,” he said.

Joy McCarthy, a Joe Slovo councillor, said the community had not been protesting over a lack of services.

“This is not a service delivery protest, as we are trying very hard to deliver services and housing to the informal settlements,” McCarthy said.

“However, such unlawful behaviour and damaging of the existing infrastructure by certain individuals within the community is hampering service delivery.”

Late on Sunday, police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut said streets in the area had not been re-opened because some containers were still in the road.

“We will monitor and patrol the area to maintain calm and order and we will reopen the roads once we are sure that motorists wont be in any danger,” Traut said.

- Cape Argus

Song of the Makwerekwere

Xenophobia rears its head as 'war' declared in Mayfair

Immigrants and refugees living in Mayfair in Johannesburg are living in fear after threatening, xenophobic letters began circulating in the area.

A group calling itself the South African Blacks Association (Saba) has made graphic threats of violence against foreigners in Mayfair and has encouraged others to do the same.

The organisation distributed pamphlets in the area – slipped into letter boxes and posted on lampposts – "declaring war" against refugees and warning foreigners that "we are coming for you".

"We will burn your houses, your so-called luxury cars, we will kill your fucken [sic] puppies [children] and burn down your shops," it said, before also threatening to rape and kill foreign women.

Mayfair is home to a number of immigrant groups from countries such as Somalia and Bangladesh. The fliers were dropped into letterboxes around the area the night before Eid celebrations two weeks ago.

Some foreigners living in Mayfair are terrified and have approached NGOs that work with refugees and migrants for support.

"We don't know who these people are [or] exactly when they are coming. Even if you say, 'let me try to have some people to guard us day and night', you never know when the attack will start," said Sulega Hussein, a Somalian who lives in Mayfair.

"We have nowhere to run," said Hussein, who lost a friend in the xenophobic riots of 2008, in which at least 62 people were killed.

"We're hoping God mustn't allow the same thing that happened in 2008 to happen."

Playing down the threat

But not all foreign residents in Mayfair feel this way. Amin Salat, national coordinator of the Somali Association, said he believes that because the Somali community in Mayfair is large and established, it is not in any imminent danger.

Salat said the association had tried to "minimise" the impact of the pamphlets and had chosen not to report the intimidation.

"We didn't approach anyone because we know that the people distributing those types of documents are small in number," he said. But this perspective was also informed by a fear that others would take on the cause of the pamphlet if they were aware of its existence.

"There is no need for us to take this case further. We don't want to bring the attention of others who are not aware of it," he said.

NGOs on edge

But Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, head of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme at Lawyers for Human Rights, advised the community to report the matter to the police. Those who were responsible could be charged with incitement to violence, among other charges.

Ramjathan-Keogh said Lawyers for Human Rights is very concerned about xenophobia. "In 2008, more than 60 people were killed. In 2010/2011 more than 100 people were killed. It happened very quietly, there was no media scrutiny or public outcry."

"I would take any threat seriously," she added.

Alphonse Munyaneza, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency UNHCR, agreed that the threat is "serious and credible".

Munyaneza said that according to its information, the group calling itself Saba has been operating since last year.

"This a group of people in bakkies, dressed in black, they have military discipline, they are very scary. They don't use violence in the sense that they come and beat you up [but] they are so threatening that, by intimidation, you just close [shop]," he said.

The Refugee Agency encountered the group in Freedom Park last year following an outbreak of xenophobic violence in the area but it quickly went to ground when the police became involved.

Loren Landau, director of the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University, said that stronger leadership was needed from government to condemn such intimidation.

According to Landau, anti-foreigner sentiment was rife at the recent national social cohesion summit, and that instead of condemning it, many politicians had stood by silently.

The theme of the summit was "creating a caring and proud society".

Peace and stability 

This came shortly after the release of the ANC’s peace and stability policy document, which dedicated considerable space to issues such as managing immigrants, asylum seekers and economic migrants.

At one point the document says: "Non-South Africans should not be allowed to buy or run spaza shops or larger businesses without having to comply with certain legislated prescripts. By-laws need to be strengthened in this regard."

The party came under fire during the policy conference for the discussion points, which appeared to validate xenophobic sentiments.

Landau said he hoped government would use the incident in Mayfair to condemn hate speech and incitements of violence against foreigners.

"By ignoring it, you just let it fester," he said.

Isaac Mangena, spokesperson for the South African Human Rights Commission, said that reported abuses against immigrants, especially Pakistanis and Somalis, and the complaints that the Human Rights Commission receives, meant that government had to step in to ensure that "the rights of foreign residents are not violated with impunity".

"These violations are of grave concern as it appears to [be] becoming endemic and systemic," he said.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in South Africa said that it was worried about the simmering xenophobic tensions in some parts of South Africa.

Gaone Dixon, a spokesperson for IOM South Africa, said the organisation believed communities could find effective ways rise above their socioeconomic problems by  "cooperating and dialoguing" with migrants.

"Migration is one of the defining features of our contemporary world, [yet] it remains one of the most misunderstood issues of our time," he said.

City of Johannesburg spokesperson Gabu Tugwana said the City’s human development department had been made aware of the threats and was taking them seriously.

"Discussions with various stakeholders that form the migration sector have started taking place," he said. "We are hopeful that our security agencies will soon expose the authors of this pamphlet and severely deal with them," he said.

State Security Agency spokesperson Brian Dube told the M&G that the agency was not at liberty to comment on whether certain groups were being investigated for inciting violence and xenophobia as this would "defeat the whole purpose of intelligence gathering".

"All we can say is that as part of the security services in the country, we are working tirelessly to support the police, in particular, to apprehend organised crime groupings and those working to create anarchy in our communities," he said.

- M&G

Residents threaten to loot Somali shops

RESIDENTS of Nompumelelo town ship yesterday threatened to loot and  vandalise a new spaza shop which they  claim is a contravention of an agreement reached two years ago.

Members of the Beacon Bay police  and law enforcement officers from  the Buffalo City Metro (BCM) were  called in to intervene.

Ward councillor Makhaya Bophi  said the owner of the new spaza shop  had contravened a 2010 agreement  signed between local residents, members of  the Somali community and BCM law  enforcement officials.

The agreement, he said, prohibited  further establishment of Somali- owned shops in the township. There  are were currently 11 legally owned Somali spaza shops.

However, Bophi said last week resident Vuyo Ndeyisile rented out his  corrugated church structure to a Somali an national who then turned it into  a spaza shop. This angered the community.

“We held a meeting this past Saturday and we agreed that this spaza  shop must stop operating, but our  request fell on deaf ears,” Bophi  said.   “To show that we are not xenophobic,  we had to call police to come and shut  down this spaza shop on the com munity’s behalf.

“This area cannot afford to have  any more Somali-owned shops because our own brothers and sisters  need a chance to open their businesses.” he said, adding that jobs were hard to find for local residents.

Ndeyisile, who had locked himself  up in the spaza shop, refused to open  when police ordered him to do so.

“The community cannot rule in my  yard,” he said to members of the  police.

Law enforcement officers then is sued Ndeyisile with a R1000 fine for  letting his property to an illegal business, which was operating without a  licence.

Mohamed Hasan, a Somali businessman in the area, said he sup ported the call for the spaza shop to  close.

“In order to avoid xenophobia, the  shop must close and stop operating.  That spaza shop is starting to make  trouble for us. We do not want to  upset the community,” he said.

Law enforcement warned Ndeyisile that should the business operate again, they would confiscate all goods.

Petros Majola of human rights  group Khula Community Development Project condemned the calls for  closure.

“We are quick to say that these  foreign-owned shops must close, but  are we going to provide these Somalis with food and clothing,” he  said. , adding that the country’s constitution catered for their rights.

“These people are not selling drugs, they are selling groceries and blankets to our people.”

Majola, who claims to know both  Ndeyisile and the owner of the business,  said his organisation would be  seeking legal advice (from DespatchOnline)

Somali shop owners left to beg for food, clothing

After being forced out of their homes and businesses following a week of petrol bomb attacks,

several Somalis have been left stranded and say they have nowhere to go.

Mohamed Warsame Abdi, the chairman of the Mitchells Plain branch of the Somali Association of SA, said there were no NGOs or shelters willing to assist traders begging for shelter, food and clothing.

Abdi also spoke about their frustrations: “We all left Somalia because of the civil war. We just want a chance to make something with our lives. Most Somalis do not beg on the streets. They always work for people or for themselves. We just want all of this to stop.”

Several Somali-owned shops in Beacon Valley and Valhalla Park were burnt to the ground last week.

On Saturday, Somali trader Abdirahman Muhammed said he witnessed his shop, which he ran with three friends, go up in flames.

“The fire destroyed everything. It did not even leave us a single coin. All our clothes, money, food… everything was just gone.”

A petrol bomb was flung into the shop in Beacon Valley at 10pm on Wednesday.

“We tried throwing water on it, but then, while we were busy, another four petrol bombs were thrown in. One even hit the hand of my friend, Mohammed Abdullah, who also passed out from inhaling smoke. I had to carry him out of the shop.”

The pair have now been separated from their group as they travel to different areas to seek help from friends and relatives.

Muhammed said he and Abdullah had stayed in Bellville, Manenberg, Nyanga and other areas in Mitchells Plain.

“We will stay in Nyanga tonight (Saturday), but tomorrow we do not know where we are going to stay.”

He added that police have not given him any feedback on the investigation of the attack and he did not think that anything would be done about it.

However, police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut said that the investigation was still under way.

Traut added that eight suspects were arrested in connection with the Valhalla Park incidents, but that the cases were withdrawn against seven.

Arrests are yet to be made in the Beacon Valley cases.

- Cape Argus

SA edges closer to xenophobic flare-up

South Africa could experience a recurrence of xenophobic violence similar to that of 2008, when foreigners were brutally assaulted and many killed.

With renewed attacks on refugees and asylum seekers in Western Cape and the Free State in the past few days, civil right groups have warned that the country is "dangerously close to boiling point" and in need of urgent action to prevent the "loss of innocent lives".

Though crime and xenophobia have been cited as motives for the displacement and assault of more than 600 foreigners, and the looting and petrol bombing of their shops, NGOs say the continuing attacks could be linked to the ANC's criticism of refugees and asylum-seekers.

South Africa came under fierce international criticism in 2008 when more than 62 people were killed and about 670 wounded in attacks that broke out in Johannesburg in May and then spread across the country, targeting immigrants whom locals blamed for taking their jobs.

Director of Passop - People against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty - Braam Hanekom blamed the attacks on comments in the ANC's policy document, "Peace and Stability". in which the party calls for stringent laws against trading by foreigners.

"There is a claim in the document that 95% of asylum-seekers are not legitimate refugees. This is demonising refugees. The claim is being made before the asylum-seekers are judged by the Department of Home Affairs," Hanekom said.

He said that the ANC's discussion document, tabled during its policy conference in Midrand last month, was "problematic".

In Cape Town, where the ANC has proposed that asylum-seekers and migrants be barred from running spaza shops, and from renting houses from South Africans from which to run such shops - scores of foreigners have been attacked in the past two days.

In Mitchells Plain's Beacon Valley section, four shops in one street were attacked on Wednesday night. Masked men hurled petrol bombs at them just before 10pm.

In Valhalla Park, near Cape Town International Airport, more than 20 foreigner-owned shops had to close after some were petrol-bombed on Monday and looted on Tuesday.

A Somalian refugee Seisal Mohammed, 27, fought back tears yesterday when he told of how several men broke into his Beacon Valley shop and assaulted him.

"I escaped the violence in my country and thought South Africans would accept us and help us rebuild our lives, but it's just as bad here," said Mohammed.

He said he feared for his life and for his wife and two young children.

"We are always being attacked and assaulted. Our goods are taken from our shops and there is nothing we can do. People get arrested and then the police let them go. We have no one looking after us."

Gangsters, said Mohammed, are demanding a "protection" fee of up to R800 a day from the mostly Somali-owned shops.

Patricia Fredericks, 38, said gangsters in their early teens had tried to intimidate Somali and Bangladeshi spaza shopkeepers in Beacon Valley.

Before this week's incidents, most of the violence aimed at foreigners was in Cape Town's Khayelitsha and Philippi.

Valhalla Park ward councillor Nas Abrahams, of the DA, said that Tuesday's violence was a "free for all" in which Somali-owned spaza shops were looted.

He said the police could have done more to prevent the looting - they were photographed standing by while stolen goods were being carried away.

Police spokesman Andre Traut refused to speculate on whether the motive was political or criminal, or the result of hostility towards foreigners.

"We don't want to speculate about the motives. We'd rather investigate first," said Traut.

Hanekom, however, warned that the continuing attacks on foreigner-owned shops could soon spiral out of control.

"We are dangerously close to boiling point."

Hanekom's comments were made two days after 500 foreigners were displaced in Botshabelo, in the Free State, on Wednesday.

The SA Red Cross Society said the attacks started when street vendors were removed from Fairways, in Botshabelo, nine days ago.

Angry residents broke into the businesses of Somalis, Chinese and Ethiopians and stole goods and money.

Some houses belonging to foreigners were torched.

Colonel Sam Makhele said peace had been restored to the area but the police were monitoring the situation.

"The situation is still fine. There have not been any reports of violence."

But, said Hanekom: "The attacks have been continually happening; we have definitely been seeing an increase in their number."

Though some ANC discussion documents propose reducing the number of foreigner-owned spaza shops, the party's spokesman, Jackson Mthembu, said this had no relation to xenophobia.

"All our documents are on the ANC website; there isn't any that talks about spaza shops. When we talk about economic policy we don't even talk about spaza shops. What is [sic] spaza shops in the economic equation?" asked Mthembu.

The ANC policy will now be scrutinised by the party's national conference in December and, if approved, will form part of the government's programmes.

The ANC also wants a monitoring system to be established to ensure that the whereabouts of asylum-seekers are known.

- timeslive

Gang leaders behind attacks, say Somalis

New gang leaders trying to popularise themselves are behind the spate of attacks on foreign shopkeepers in Cape Town, according to the Western Cape branch of the Somali Association of SA.

The association said on Thursday that “Somali-phobia” was to blame for the latest attacks on foreign-owned shops in Valhalla Park and Beacon Valley in Mitchells Plain.

Chairman Abdikadir Mohamed said the association’s members in Valhalla Park have been told that new gang leaders who were trying to “stamp their authority” in the area were behind attacks on Somali-owned shops on Tuesday.

He said it was disappointing that police stood by while shops were being looted in Valhalla Park this week.

On Thursday, four more shops were petrol-bombed in Beacon Valley.

“The violence starts in one area and because Somalis and refugees have no one to stand up for them, the violence will start to spread. I don’t call it xenophobia. I call it Afrophobia, or even Somali-phobia, because it does not affect anyone who is not African,” Mohamed said.

He said most of the shop owners had fled to Bellville where they were staying with family and friends while they waited for the situation in the communities to change.

The Police Ministry was quick to quell any suggestions of xenophobia, saying it was looking at a multifaceted approach to tackle the problem, which involved working with civil society.

Zweli Mnisi, spokesman for Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, said: “There are other challenges which the government is looking into because you have a situation of socio-economic challenges in the country… which we are not going to ignore, and one of them has to do with the regulation of trade between small and informal businesses.

“Some of the tension arises as a result of some competition, particularly at that level… in a normal situation shopkeepers or spaza shop owners will be in competition for prices, but because it happens with other nationals (foreigners), it becomes an issue. We are going to be ensuring that it is dealt with.”

Community Safety MEC Dan Plato said: “The SAPS will have to stop people from looting and threatening spaza shop owners before it spills over into other communities, which is what appears to be already happening.

“The police need to take control of this situation before it is out of their grasp, they need to make arrests, and these people need to appear in court to account for their actions.”

- Cape Argus

‘Lax’ cops should face action: Plato

Police officers who did nothing to stop the recent looting of spaza shops in Cape Town should face action, community safety MEC Dan Plato said on Wednesday.

He said the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) should find out why certain officers appeared to do nothing as shops were looted in Valhalla Park on Tuesday.

“If police did indeed stand by and do nothing more than watch while thugs damaged property and stole groceries, I want to see these policemen and women charged with negligence,” Plato said.

“Police are meant to prevent and combat crime, maintain public order and protect and secure the inhabitants of our province – it would appear that they failed to do so on Tuesday.”

According to the Cape Argus, scores of Somali businessmen fled Valhalla Park after their shops were looted.

Groups of up to 100 people, some including children, ransacked stores. Three shops were petrol-bombed and a policeman was hit on the head with a brick.

Plato said he had requested photos from different media bodies, which clearly showed the identity of police officers, and would attach this to his letter to the IPID.

He would also ask Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer whether any arrests were made for looting, and why it appeared that police officers took no action. – Sapa

Foreign shops firebombed

Four spaza shops in Beacon Valley were petrol-bombed within minutes of each other, in the latest in a spate of attacks on foreign shopkeepers in Cape Town.

The attacks took place in quick succession just after 10pm on Wednesday night. One of the shops was open during the attack.

One traumatised shop-owner was locked in his shop when the Cape Argus interviewed him on Thursday morning, saying he feared for his life.

Mdi Mijan, from Pakistan, said he was packing up his stock just after 10pm on Wednesday night when he heard a loud bang and glass breaking.

“When I looked behind me, the front counter in my shop was burning along with my stock. I saw two men running away... Everything was burning, and I started shouting for help,” Mijan said.

Neighbours helped him extinguish the fire. Half-burnt potato chip and chocolate wrappers and some money were strewn over the still-wet floor on Thursday. “I tried my best to clean up but it was too dark because the bomb burned the lights on the roof.”

Two shops near Mijan’s store in Metropolitan Street were also petrol-bombed.

Mariska Simons, one of the shop owners, said she had only returned home on Thursday morning after her shop was targeted.

 

Her kitchen has been gutted, water is everywhere and everything in the spaza shop had been burnt.

Simons said the Pakistani man, Amjad, who ran the shop at her home, and his two assistants had run away. “I haven’t seen them since last night.”

She said she had heard a loud bang and she saw flames coming out of the kitchen on Wednesday night. “I was already sleeping with my two-year-old. Then we ran to a neighbour’s home.”

Simons said the shop was her only income after she lost her job due to tuberculosis. “My baby and I are on TB medication and the rent money from the shop was how I made money to pay for this house. I don’t even know where to start. This is terrible.”

The other shop on Metropolitan Street was locked earlier on Thursday. In Hengelaar Street, a frustrated Shafieka Petersen stood outside the shop she used to rent to two Somali men, Abdulei and Ali.

She said the shop was open when it was attacked: “Abdulei told me they were busy serving a customer when (the attackers) threw a petrol bomb into the shop. Luckily, no one was injured. He said they saw about three men who ran back into their car and drove off.”

Petersen said the attack was inhumane because the shop-owners went out of their way to help residents. “They would sell sugar for R1 or give to people who didn’t have the money. Pick n Pay is not going to give you that. We as South Africans can learn a lot from them. They come here with nothing and yet when they have, they give back to the people.”

Some of the residents who gathered outside the shops said they believed the attacks were planned, as only a few shops had been targeted.

One resident, who declined to be named, said he had heard of other attacks in Lentegeur and Eastridge.

Police spokesman Andre Traut confirmed the four incidents in Beacon Valley and said no arrests had been made yet.

Traut could not confirm if there had been attacks in the other two areas.

l Meanwhile, Community Safety MEC Dan Plato has vowed to take action against what he calls negligence on the part of police in Vahalla Park on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Cape Argus reported that scores of Somali businessmen packed up shop and fled Valhalla Park after shops were petrol-bombed, apparently by gangsters.

After the attacks, and in some cases while shopkeepers where loading stock on to bakkies, large crowds looted the spaza shops.

Police were in the area throughout the day. Referring to photographs and reports in Die Burger which showed police apparently standing by while looting was taking place, Plato said he would call on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate to investigate and take necessary action against wrongdoing.

“If police did indeed stand by and do nothing more than watch while thugs damaged property and stole groceries, I want to see these policemen and women charged with negligence,” said Plato.

“Police are meant to prevent and combat crime... It would appear that they failed to do so yesterday.”

- Cape Argus

Xenophobia rears ugly head in "Free State" - oh the irony.

Over 500 foreign nationals have been displaced in xenophobic attacks in Botshabelo in the Free State, the SA Red Cross Society (Sarcs) says.

"It all started when unregistered street vendors were removed in Botshabelo town at a place called Fairways on July 3," the society said in a statement.

The same night, angry residents broke into businesses of Somalians, Chinese and Ethopians. They took goods and money from the shops, and some houses belonging to foreign nationals were burnt down.

The Red Cross said it was currently supporting 584 displaced foreigners at the community hall, providing food, blankets and other aid.

"Sarcs is pleading with the public, businesses and corporates to assist with clothes, school uniforms, toiletries and food to help the victims."

Police confirmed the attacks, but said the situation in Botshabelo was calm on Wednesday.

Claudia Mangwegape of the Red Cross in the Free State said a meeting was held on Wednesday between locals, foreign nationals and community organisations in a bid to end the conflict.

The outcome was expected later in the afternoon. (from TimesLive)

We can’t stay any longer - Somalis

Scores of Somali businessmen packed up and fled Valhalla Park after their shops were firebombed and looted on Tuesday.

Groups of between 60 and 100 people, some including young children, ransacked Somali businesses. Three shops were petrol-bombed, destroying them, and a policeman is in hospital after being hit on the head by a brick.

A source at Bishop Lavis police station, who asked not to be named for fear of being targeted by gangs, said The Firm – also known as the 28s gang – was behind the attacks.

“It’s about protection money. The gangs try to extort money from the shopkeepers. If a settlement cannot be reached, shops are burnt down.”

On Tuesday morning, groups of Somali men dismantled their spaza shops across Valhalla Park and adjacent Kalksteenfontein. Zinc sheets, wooden frames and stock were loaded into vans and taken away.

“We can’t stay here any longer,” said Omar Hazan, 17. He has been in SA for a year and a half and was working at a Somali shop in Valhalla Park.

“Somalia is dangerous, but today I think that it is better than being here. Here people are targeting us, some of them want us dead.”

Hazan was employed by Abdi Salaan Sheikh Muhamad, who has been in the country since 2005.

Muhamad thwarted an attempt to burn down his shop by disposing of an unexploded petrol bomb with his bare hands. The bomb had been flung through an opening in the wall through which he served customers.

“I picked it up and threw it outside. We doused the flames with water and a fire extinguisher,” Muhamad said.

He chased the attackers, but they sped off in a car without registration plates.

Hazan said: “They were shooting at me as they were fleeing.”

Muhamad did not suffer any losses or property damage, but said it was time to move. “Maybe we can set up a shop in Bellville.”

He also believes the attackers are gangsters. He says he received a phone call from a private number on Monday night demanding he pay R800 a day in protection money.

“I cannot pay this. I offered them R80 a day, but they said they would kill me and hung up.”

Four shops were looted by residents, said police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut.

Captain Marie Louw, communications officer at the Bishop Lavis police station, said: “Often such incidents can lead to a free-for-all of opportunistic crime.

“Criminal individuals in the community will see attacks on Somali businesses as an opportunity to loot the targeted and other shops.”

Some shopkeepers were robbed as they loaded stock into vans.

Police were a visible presence at most locations and the situation had been brought under control, said Louw, although at mid-afternoon children as young as six were sifting through the ruins of a shop razed by fire.

In September 2010, a mob of about 300 people marched through Valhalla Park, looting and vandalising Somali-owned spaza shops.

Most residents asked for their views said they did not condone the attacks.

“These are hard-working, good people. They have come here as entrepreneurs and they provide a good service to the community,” said Ashleen de Villiers, a resident of Kalksteenfontein.

“Tell me, where am I to find another shop where I can buy bread for R3.50, or a shopkeeper who will let me buy on credit when my money runs out at the end of the month? I had a good relationship with (the shopkeeper).”

The spazas were a necessity as supermarkets were far away, said Suleiga (surname withheld).

“Where will we shop now? Our children will have to walk very far to buy groceries,” she said. “It is dangerous. They will be mugged and have their money stolen. The girls are in danger of being raped along the way.”

- Cape Argus

Zimbos Face Deportation

More than 1,5 million Zimbabweans living illegally in neighbouring South Africa face deportation at the end of this month when the moratorium for illegal immigrants expires.

The South African Home Affairs department introduced the moratorium, through the Zimbabwe Documentation Process (ZDP) in April 2009, to allow undocumented Zimba-bweans living in the country a chance to formalise their stay by applying for, and being issued with residence and work permits. However, only 250 000 out of an estimated two million Zimbabweans living in South Africa applied for the permits, with about 20 000 believed to have been turned down.

A total of 25 827 illegal immigrants have been deported since South Africa resumed deportations in October last year. Two weeks ago, 587 people were bussed back home through Beitbridge Border Post.

According to border officials, this latest batch of deportees was brought in aboard seven buses from Johannesburg from Lindela Detention Centre.

Assistant regional immigration officer, Francis Mabika told The Financial Gazette that the border post was prepared for any volume of deportees that passed through it.

"South Africa has not yet communicated with us on that issue, but if there are going to be mass deportations then there will have preparatory meetings between the two governments so that we work out the logistics," said Mabika.

"In any case, we will never fail to accept our people coming back home at any day or hour. If large volumes are deported, arrangements would be made so as not to disrupt traffic at the border post," said Mabika. A representative of the Welshman Ncube-led Movement for Democratic Change in South Africa, Jabulani Mkhwananzi, said officials at the South African Home Affairs department had indicated that they would finish processing permits by the end of this month, after which mass deportations would resume.

"The response when we were preaching the gospel of applying for permits to Zimbabweans was electrifying but unfortunately this did not translate into action. Now of course it is too late as the South African government has made it clear there will be no more extensions of the deadline," said Mkhwananzi.

Mkhwananzi said most people were only just realising the benefits of having proper documentation.

Co- Minister of Home Affairs, Theresa Makone this week said her ministry would engage its South African counterpart for a possible extension of the ZDP as a lot of Zimbabweans had failed to regularise their stay. For Zimbabweans living in the neighbouring country, deportation means leaving their jobs and coming back to their country, whose economy is still underperforming. Unemployment in Zimbabwe is now reportedly the highest in southern Africa.

The majority would much rather turn right back as soon as they have reached Beitbridge Border post than come back home.

A study by the Solidarity Peace Trust and People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty revealed that 200 out of 227 respondents would return to South Africa if deported.

According to a recent report by the two civic organisations, the detention stage in the deportation process at Lindela detention camp was littered with abuse, neglect and failure to respect the rule of law.

"Detainees held in Lindela reported not going through any medical screening before detention.

"Data shows an almost complete lack of access to medical services, including anti-retrovirals.

"The length of detention is also of serious concern. It was common practice for detainees from countries further North of Zimbabwe to be held in Lindela for longer than 120 days, but even Zimbabweans have on occasion been detained for more than the 120 days," reads part of the report.

- allAfrica

Foreigners' shops looted in Botriver

A service delivery protest by Botrivier residents turned ugly on Monday when six Somali and Chinese shops were looted and police had to use tear gas, rubber bullets and blue dye to try to disperse the crowd.

The police confirmed that 32 men and 12 women were arrested and were expected to appear in the Caledon Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Botrivier police spokesman Cyril Coetzee said police would continue to patrol the area during the night.

The protest started early on Monday morning and continued for most the afternoon. Residents are demanding that the Theewaterskloof municipality deliver on promises of housing, toilets and tarred roads.

It was the second protest in less than a month.

Chen Xi Ynu, who operates one of the looted shops, said she woke up to the sound of rocks landing on her roof. When she heard someone break the door, she ran away while her husband called the police. She said they have been in the area for just more than a year and had lost everything.

Barbara Matomela rented a room in her house to a Somali shopkeeper.

The shop was trashed and looted and Matomela said she did not know where her tenant had run to.

“He was alone in the shop when they (the looters) came, as his brothers were away. They (the brothers) did not even realise they were going to be targeted.

“They also wanted to join the march because we all thought we were marching against the municipality.”

Community leader James Pheiffer said: “The residents are angry with the municipality which made a lot of promises for houses, toilets and tarred roads and never delivered. This is not about the ANC or DA or Cope. People here are unhappy and they came together as a community for the protest,” he said. (from IOL)

 

This is what happens when you have the ANC trying to leverage xenophobia for votes. Once you identify an "enemy" it's very hard to close that tap. People's emotions are irrational.

Passop slams call to limit foreign shops

An ANC proposal to curtail township spaza shops owned by foreign nationals has come under fire from People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (Passop), whose co-ordinator Braam Hanekom slammed the move as misguided and a mistake.

He responded on Sunday to comments by ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile, who said an explosion of foreign-owned shops had out-muscled local owners. They must be curtailed otherwise it could result in tension between the groups and outbreaks of xenophobia, Mjongile said.

Mjongile said the issue came up at the ANC provincial general council two weeks ago where concerns were raised about township entrepreneurs “disappearing”.

“What we are saying is there needs to be intervention,” Mjongile said when approached following a Sunday Times report that the ANC wanted migrants stopped from running spaza shops in townships.

Hanekom said: “We think this is a huge mistake. We are very disappointed to hear this. We are hoping to communicate with the ANC provincial chairman about this issue. We don’t know the number of foreign entrepreneurs in townships, but can safely assume that the rights of the number of people who pay cheaper for a loaf of bread far outweigh the interest of local shop owners.”

ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman, a former International Relations and Co-operation deputy minister, had in the past expressed concern about Somali refugees, and would be asked for an explanation, said Hanekom.

He said the notion to curtail foreign-owned spaza shops would champion the interests of an “elite minority”.

“If it should come to a vote on this issue, I don’t believe the people of Khayelitsha would vote for foreigners being removed. Part of the problem is some politicians are more concerned about local businesses than about people. It undermines the rights of the majority of our people,” he said.

Mjongile said it was “unnatural that almost all shops in townships are owned by foreigners. More locals need to participate and need to be supported… it creates tension. If we are not attending to it, it becomes a source of division.”

He said more local small businesses should come to the fore and the ANC wanted the government to support them. He said foreign-owned shops should be regulated.

Fransman said: “It is not a Western Cape proposal. It is part of a national discussion document. This is not the position of the ANC Western Cape leadership. The bottom line is we must be sensitive how we treat our fellow Africans. They are our brothers and sisters.”

He said the interests of locals and foreign nationals should be balanced. “We need to find ways to regulate the situation better, but we need not be xenophobic. We must be sensitive.”

Patrick Ngani, SA National Civics Association leader in Khayelitsha, said: “We have not been consulted about this issue. It is true some local owners are suffering while foreigners benefit, but it is not proper to say foreigners must not run shops.”

He was uncertain how many foreign-owned spaza shops there were in Khayelitsha, but believed there were more than 150.

“There is nothing wrong about coming with a proposal, but discuss it at grassroots level first. There must be a way to find an amicable solution.”

Khayelitsha Development Forum secretary Zoliswa Lonja said it supported regulation of foreign-owned shops. “There is a situation where almost every third house in some areas is a spaza shop – most of them are owned by foreigners. Regulation is critical, but we also support integration.”

She said foreigners were better at business and there was potential for conflict.

“Poverty and unemployment turn people to run spaza shops, leading to overpopulation of shops. A joint working relationship between all groups is the way to go. It can help avoid the problem of xenophobia.”

Zanokhayo Retailers Association member Loyiso Doyi said: “Foreigners do not empower local citizens. They employ their own. We suggested to them to sit down and discuss joint ventures and working together. We don’t want to chase them out, but the government seem not willing to assist us. There are over 600 foreigner spaza shops in Khayelitsha. Can you imagine how locals could survive? They are killing locals.”

Asked for a solution, he said: “There are two. They must pack up and go – which is very harsh. Or they can sit down with us and discuss joint ventures.” Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich declined to comment, while messages left for the Somali Traders Association spokesman Abdi Ahmed were not returned.

- Cape Times

Cut number of foreign spaza shops - Western Cape ANC

The ANC in the Western Cape wants the government to cut the number of foreign-owned spaza shops and will push for this during the party’s policy conference in Joburg this week.

ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile said party branches, especially those in townships, were concerned that the majority of the province’s spaza shops were owned, managed and staffed by foreigners, and that locals were “losing out”.

“The ratio between the number of migrants who own spaza shops and locals is completely out,” Mjongile said. “We need a balance around small enterprises in our communities.

“The government must find a way to support locals so that they too can open shops and be economically active, but then the number of foreign-owned spaza shops has to be cut.”

In its Peace and Stability policy document, which is to be discussed at Gallagher Estate this week, the ANC proposes that non-South Africans should not run spaza shops without adhering to “certain legislated prescripts”, which may or may not be different to those applying to South Africans.

Mjongile said the ANC in the Western Cape supported the proposals in the document “100 percent” and that it would be “pushing hard” to ensure that resolutions were made in its favour and adopted.

The document says “non-South Africans should not be allowed to buy or run spaza shops or larger businesses without having to comply with local laws”. It also says that “laws and by-laws have to be made in a way that impacts positively rather than negatively on the informal economic sector”, and argues that the renting of houses by asylum seekers from South Africans for informal trading may contravene by-laws.

Calling for a strengthening and proper enforcement of municipal by-laws, it says: “Ideally municipalities should know who lives and works and runs businesses in their area as well as their status.”

Refugee rights group Passop has described the proposals as “unconstitutional” and “foolish”.

Passop’s Braam Hanekom said he was shocked and surprised that the Western Cape ANC had indicated it would support the document.

“As Passop, we strongly oppose it. It is unconstitutional and a foolish move,” Hanekom said.

He added that it was “extremely concerning” that some of the proposals in this discussion document were already being implemented”.

Hanekom said closing the refugee reception centre in Cape Town and moving it to the border was one of the proposals.

He said while it might be too late to call a meeting with the leadership of the ANC in the Western Cape, Passop would do “everything possible” to ensure that the proposals were rejected. “Supporting this policy document is not in the interest of the communities that the ANC represents,” he said.

“This is anti-immigrant and violates refugee rights.

“The spaza shop owners feed these communities, their prices are the cheapest. The ANC seems to be more concerned about the businessmen and elite in the townships and not the poor families who depend on the foreign-owned spaza shops for cheaper loaves of bread and cups of rice.”

Spaza shop owners are livid about the proposals. (from IOL) 

Blame Whitey (what the Spear taught me)

The controversy over the Brett Murray painting The Spear has brought the racial fracture lines of South Africa front and centre. Art is what you personally make of it. Interpretation is everything. The "outrage" which has been stirred up by the ANC in particular has had a decided racial angle about it. Why did the race of the artist matter? Senior counsel Malindi had to concede in court that the matter was not about race, yet the ANC continued to cast it as such.

The change in racial discourse in the past two months has been noticible. The victims of the piece are "blacks in general" and the villains are "the whites". The racial epithets are used without questioning whether they are valid. Continuing to use the racial classification of pre-1994 shows that we have learned nothing from history. .
 

The time of blaming failure on apartheid is over. Now is the time to blame "whites". Julius Malema set the alarm bells ringing with his black and white view of the world. To hear it from Kgalema Motlanthe was sad.

Where has the president been while all this has been happening? Absent as usual? No. 

The SABC describe how:

"At the end of his keynote address to the National Union of Mineworkers' conference held in Kempton Park last Wednesday, visibly-hurt and emotionally-shaken President Jacob Zuma broke into a liberation song titled: "Senzeni na?" (What have we done "to deserve this cruel racist treatment"?). Never before have I seen Zuma in such a shaken and troubled state of emotional composure."

The president is out there playing the victim. He's not out there vacuously promising jobs any more, he's playing the race card. After his advocate had conceded that it was not about race in court he's back at it. I have to wonder if the president was able to push some fake tears? A worthy performance from the same man who has been totally silent when our black brethren are beating on their African brothers. 
 

Justice Malala asked Paul Mashatile the ultimate question of why he "as a black person" should be offended by the painting. There was no answer. 

I am tired of being racially classified. I keep paying for the colour of my skin. Try and transform as I might I just don't seem to be turning "black". From now on I am going to have to challenge all attempts at classification with "Hold on - if you are going to want to use racial classifications then you are going to have to have an authority to determine what race people are." Calling me "white" is an insult. It is up there with "you people" "coloured" "Indian" "coolie" "hotnot" "nigger" "spick" "kaffer" and "blacks in general".  

One Party State by Brett Murray. Interpret it as you please or will.

Diversity

Chaos as Africans attacked

Violent race riots that shook southern Tel Aviv overnight sparked shock in Israel yesterday but also prompted top-level calls for the immediate arrest and expulsion of tens of thousands of African migrants.

The latest unrest to sweep the impoverished neighbourhoods around Tel Aviv's central bus station erupted when a demonstration by about 1000 people, protesting against the rising number of Africans moving into the area, turned violent.

"Shock, violence and hatred of foreigners in Tel Aviv" was the headline in the Maariv daily, which described scenes of chaos as demonstrators went on the rampage with sticks and stones, attacking African-run shops and smashing up a car driven by two African men.

"Blacks out," shouted demonstrators in the crowd, while others yelled: "Send the Sudanese back to Sudan."

Most reports said the rally turned nasty after the crowd was whipped up by several racist speeches from rightwing MPs, several of them from the ruling Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The infiltrators are a cancer in our body," Likud MP Miri Regev told the crowd, as fellow MP Danny Danon shouted: "The infiltrators must be expelled from Israel! Expulsion now!"

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 20 people had been arrested on suspicion. There were no reports of injuries.

Interior ministry statistics show there are more than 60000 African immigrants living illegally in Israel.

- Timeslive

Somali traders living in terror

Somali shop traders in Masiphumelele fear for their lives after a series of attacks over the past two months left more than eight critically injured.

“It’s horrible… we are facing a really scary time,” said Abdullahi Hussein Mohamed, a shop owner and spokesman for Somali traders in Masiphumelele.

He said that in the past, robbers would come inside their shops, point a gun and demand money. But now “they come to our shops and they just start shooting. People get shot at while they are sleeping,” he said.

Masiphumelele is between Kommetjie, Capri Village and Noordhoek.

“Although we are foreigners far from home, we are living within a community and we are supposed to help each other,” said Mohamed. “We are scared but we have no choice, our children have to be fed,” he said.

When the Cape Argus visited shop owner Therie Aman, 26, this week, he had just returned from Groote Schuur Hospital after being shot three times in his hand and chest. A bullet is still lodged in the middle of his chest. “I have to go back to the hospital in a few days… I am in pain and scared… but …I have to work.”

Aman said he and his partner, Abdul Qadir Hassan, were in the shop when two young men came in. One started shooting at them. “I spent more than three hours waiting for the police, lying on the floor,” he said.

Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said they had arranged a number of meetings with the Somali shop owners and proposed that they close at 8pm. “Instead, they close at midnight,” said Van Wyk. He said that when incidents happened, they did not call the police immediately and that sometimes, the shop owners refused to open cases.

Around the corner from Aman’s shop is the store of Shurif Ali, 32, and his brother, Mustafa, 28. Two weeks ago, they were robbed and Mustafa was shot.

He had to have surgery at Groote Schuur to remove a bullet in his chest. He was discharged yesterday.

“Last Saturday they shot at us and while my brother was lying on the floor, they took about R2 000 from the till. Now we close earlier, but… they come during the day, too,” he said.

Ali said they had stopped reporting the incidents to the police because they didn’t get any feedback.

- Cape Argus

Too many "foreign shops" in Diepsloot

 

Competition tensions are escalating between local businessmen and foreign nationals who own businesses in Diepsloot.

Locals are accusing Somali, Pakistani and Ethiopian nationals of taking their “bread” away from them by having more shops than them and trading at very low prices.

They have also accused them of not being in possession of valid trading licences, not being tax compliant and turning RDP houses into spaza shops.

Diepsloot community policing forum (CPF) chairperson Sam Seale told The New Age yesterday that the forum had received several complaints from local businessmen that foreigners were “bankrupting” them.

Seale said new ways of encouraging foreign nationals to reduce their numbers were discussed at a meeting last week.

“We will be holding another meeting this weekend with all parties involved to reach an amicable solution,” he said.

Seale said the CPF supported the call to reduce the number of foreign-owned businesses.

“You will find, for example, one Pakistan national owning up to 10 shops in the area, making it difficult for locals to survive the competition,” he said.

Seale said they have invited a body that represents foreign businessmen to attend the meeting which will be held on Saturday at Diepsloot Extension 7 MPCC community hall.

Business and enterprise forum chairperson Baznaar Moloi said foreigners owning many shops in the townships and informal settlements was a problem about which the organisation received complaints from Sebokeng, Orlando, Soweto and Sharpeville to Daveyton on the East Rand.

Though Moloi did not say which trade law of the country was being undermined by the spread of foreign-owned shops, he insisted that locals must “have their share of the cake”.

Abram Mabuke, a local councillor, said complaints about shops owned by foreigners had become tedious.

“As the government we do not have a problem with foreigners having shops.

“They can have as many shops as they want as long as proper procedures are followed,” he said.

Mabuke said he will notify law enforcement agencies to be on standby to prevent any violence at foreign business owners. (from the New Age)

Foreign nationals waiting to renew refugee papers

A new look at the xenophobic attacks

The brutal xenophobic attacks that rocked South Africa in 2008 came under the spotlight on Tuesday night during a public debate at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town.

The public dialogue was organised by the Centre for Conflict Resolution and was based on the book titled Exorcising The Demons Within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa, edited by Loren Landau, which was published last month.

The meeting was addressed by Dr Aurelia Segatti and Dr Jean Pierre Misago, both researchers from the African Centre for Migration and Society at the University of the Witwatersrand, Vincent Williams, a migration policy researcher in Cape Town, and Prof Edgar Pieterse, the director of the African Centre for Cities.

In her opening remarks Segatti said the xenophobic attacks could be linked to a number of developments post 1994.

“We incorporated a new ‘citizenry’, which was also a defining moment. So the attacks in 2008 came as no surprise to scholars. Xenophobia is also a worldwide phenomenon. Contributing factors to xenophobia are migration, violence and ethnic clashes,” she said.

Williams, who has been doing research into migration for the past 15 years, said even though they were not surprised the scale of violence and the intensity thereof was shocking.

“Because we have been doing extensive research on migration, we could foresee attacks were imminent. And this is why this book looks at a whole range of factors which may have contributed to the xenophobic attacks. But we need to overcome our differences if we want to build a cohesive society and that means we need to change our individual behaviours,” he said.

Pieterse, who facilitated the session, said the book also touched on migration studies and how diversity was reproduced through violent clashes. The book also pays tribute to those who lost their lives during the attacks.

- The New Age