By Hendrick Mphande
Thursday, February 15, 2007
“This kind of situation has been going on for too long and we need political intervention from the highest level,” said SAHRC deputy chair Dr Zonke Majodina.
On Tuesday, tempers flared in Motherwell when local community members started attacking Somali shop-owners and looting from their business in a xenophobic rampage.
The problem was triggered the previous day when a group of locals reportedly attempted to rob a Somali-owned shop in Shukushukuma in NU11.
During the incident, a 15-year-old local boy who is now in a critical condition at Livingstone Hospital was struck by a stray bullet after the shop owner had retaliated to the robbers.
It was at this stage that NU11 residents decided to take the law into their own hands, looting 20 Somali-owned shops and torching seven of them.
Five Somalis who appeared in court yesterday were ordered to remain in custody until next Thursday for a formal bail application. They are charged with attempted murder relating to the shooting of the 15-year-old.
Twenty-two Motherwell residents were released on R300 bail each. They were arrested for public violence and possession of stolen goods. They will appear again on April 20.
This xenophobic situation has been witnessed elsewhere in the country, including Garden Route areas like Nokuthula township in Plettenberg Bay last year, where locals attacked Somalis.
“These are just helpless people who fled similar conditions back home. People cannot be allowed to simply take the law into their own hands. You cannot do that,” said a worried-sounding Majodina.
She said the situation was a matter of concern to her organisation considering that the international community was watching developments in the country. She urged political leaders to engage all role-players in addressing the “crisis”.
Somali community leader in Port Elizabeth Abdi Habarwa said he and his fellow asylum seekers felt very unsafe and unprotected while in South Africa.
“It would appear that we have become the target of everyone in this country. Since 1997, 470 Somalis have been murdered in a similar manner. We feel the South African government is obligated to assist us and our children to get out of this country.” He said the local community targeted and harassed them.
Another Somali national who preferred not to be named for fear of reprisal accused the police of instigating the local community to attack them.
“When we went to the station for help, the officers said we make money out of the local community and it‘s their turn to repossess from us now,” he said.
Police spokesman Captain Bonisile Sigobe said: “Those people (who accused the police) are entitled to their opinion but we abide by the law to protect and to serve everyone living in the country.”
He urged Somalis to go to the Motherwell police station to fetch their goods recovered by the police from looters.
NU11 resident Mxolisi Booi was sympathetic towards the plight of the Somalis, saying the attack was unwarranted. He blamed local businessmen for inciting unemployed township youths to loot Somali-owned shops.
“The Somalis sell products at very competitive prices and this has enraged local business who sell goods at high prices. Now they are instigating the youths to attack these people,” he said.
Kutloano Headbush, local president of National African Federated Chamber of Commerce, said: “It‘s very difficult to comment at this stage regarding what has triggered the attack. But we will still investigate.” Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Nondumiso Maphazi said ward councillors were working to resolving the matter. She was on stand-by to help if needed.
Source: The Herald Online, Feb 15, 2007