JOHANNESBURG (Halbeeg News) – Dozens of shops belonging to Somali and other foreign African nationals were looted and vandalised after irate unemployed South African raided a suburb in Johannesburg, a refugee rights group said Saturday.
In a statement, Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) said dozens of shops and homes occupied by foreign nationals in Thokoza, East of Johannesburg, were ransacked, with some burnt down.
The group stated that the xenophobic attacks started on Wednesday following a meeting held by residents last weekend to discuss unemployment within the Ekurhuleni area.
“Foreign shop owners were targeted and on 29 July, large groups of people went door-to-door, chasing out foreign nationals renting backyard rooms and shacks,” CoRMSA said in a statement.
A shop owner Brandon Mohammed from Somalia recalled how he and his family were escorted by police to collect their asylum papers and what remained of stock.
“The community members forcefully evicted me from the spaza shop. They looted everything in my shop before burning it down,” he said. “Like many non-South Africans running businesses in the area, we are very disappointed by this unfortunate act of crime. At this point, all I ask for is police or security protection to go and collect whatever is left in the shop and most importantly our identity documents.”
A SAPS statement said that 20 people were arrested and that six of them face charges of possession of stolen property. The other 14 face charges of contravening the Covid-19 disaster regulation restriction on being outside between 9pm and 4am.
SAPS said the area remains “calm but tense” and that officers will remain in the area to ensure that no further violence erupts.
“We visited the area after the attacks and spoke to several people who had lost all of their belongings and stock. Fearing for their safety, many of them have since fled their homes and abandoned what remains of their shops,” the group said.
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