Friday, October 13, 2006
Daily News
From the hole in the window, where only a child's head could fit through, a dark, lean hand produced the desired merchandise in exchange for the R1 offered.
"We all get called Baraka here. I don't know why they do it," said Abdullahi Hassan Ahmed, one of the shop owners in Masiphumelele.
Less than two months ago, more than 30 Somali shopkeepers were forced to flee the area when a mob of between 200 to 300 locals attacked their shops.
Bongile Bokwana, a community development worker and resident in the neighbourhood, explained that the first Somali-owned shop to open in Masiphumelele, along the main thoroughfare into the township, was called Baraka spaza shop.
"They're all called Baraka. People here say: 'Go to the Baraka and buy me some potatoes', or 'I saw Baraka going that way'," said Bokwana.
Seemingly all the Somalians operating in Masiphumelele rent plots from local landowners who turn a tidy profit from the passive income.
"Somalis make landowners sign slips when they pay their rent and people say that one day these Somalis will say: 'OK, I've finished paying you for the land now move out'," said Bokwana.
The suspicion and seemingly callous means of reference is in stark contrast to a community who generally appreciate the service provided by the Somali traders. A community meeting after the negative media furore about the ousting of the Somali traders showed overwhelming support for the Somalis within Masiphumelele.
For most residents, the attacks of August 28 were a shock and today are a source of embarrassment. But it also revealed a sense of self-loathing evident among those interviewed.
The question of ethnicity pervades most discussions about Somalis in Masi-phumelele, with a near unanimous feeling among local canvassed that the Baraka are good and that there are only jealous businessmen who are against them. With a spaza shop, a wendy house construction business and a shebeen, bra Lundi "D&D" Mguli is regarded as among the most successful businessmen in Masiphumelele.
"As I see it, these Somalians are better than us. They know the business. We just learn these things as we go because many of us didn't have school," said bra D&D. He rummages through a drawer and produces an exercise book which contain the minutes of the last meeting held between the local businessmen on the issue of Somali traders.
The first item on the agenda, according to the minutes of the meeting on April 9, was: "Are people from outside allowed to have businesses here?" The recorded answer is: "Everybody agrees to welcome people from exile to be part of the business community."
But not everybody agreed. Another meeting of dissident businessmen was called which allegedly prompted the attacks on the Somali businesses. Bra D&D argues that much was done to prevent tempers from flaring with regular interaction with Somali traders.
"The first people who came here, we tried to speak to them to tell them to stop bringing more people here because the space is becoming congested," he said.
The latest figures from three years ago indicate there are 280 businesses operating in Masiphumelele and 77 spaza shops, according to Uthangor Community Investments, a research and development agency working in the township.
In Masiphumelele 60 to 70 percent of adults of workable age have regular employment.
Initiatives are under way to try and ensure healthy money flow within the community, so that a R10 will circulate at least four times in the area, as in more affluent suburbs with greater infrastructure, compared with the current one-and-a-half times.
Paramount to the protracted negotiations between Somali and local traders had been the pricing of goods. For as long as anybody can remember, the countless duplicated goods in Masiphumelele had been sold for relatively the same price, as per the unspoken gentlemen's agreement in the township. Some critics have argued that business is "too integrated" in the township.
In subsequent meetings between business people and the local community, where there was general outrage against the attacks, it was decided that four Somali shopowners would be "incorporated" into the business forum "so they can also speak".
"At the moment there is no contribution they make to the community. They still employ only their own people," said bra D&D.
Part of the negotiations with the Somali businesses will be that they contribute to activities of the business community, like covering the funeral expenses of a deceased where the family have no money to do so, said bra D&D.
Source: Daily News, Oct. 13, 2006