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