Media: Somali shopkeeper murdered

2011-04-18 05:46:02 – Voice of the Cape

Following shortly after the assault on a Somali shopkeeper in Delft, a 25-year old Somali shopkeeper was gunned down by robbers inside his shop in Khalyitsha. According to a relative of the deceased, Muhammad Abdullah, (seen here) two robbers stormed into a tuck shop owned by his cousin, Aweis Muhammad Mwalin, and shot him dead.

“I came to visit my cousin when the robbers struck. They shot me on the head, but I did not die,” Abdullah told VOC at the weekend. He said he was helping his cousin to count stock inside the shop at about 9:30 pm on Thursday night, when the thugs broke the door of the shop and got inside.

“As soon as the robbers entered the shop, they demanded that my cousin gives them money. When he said he did not have money in the shop, he was shot twice in the head. Then they shot me in the head. Luckily I survived.” However, his cousin was not so lucky. He was laid to rest on Friday at the Athlone makbaray.

Police in Khayelitsha confirmed the incident to VOC in a telephone interview. “We are investigating the murder of Mwalin and we hope that we shall soon arrest whoever was involved,” a police officer stated. This month several Somali owned shops have been attacked in the Cape flats area.

Solidarity: Sikhula Sonke’s Motion of Distrust Against the ANC and Government

11 Mar 2010

Motion of distrust against the ANC will be put to the United Nations Commission and Minister of International Affairs on refugee rights for the situation in De Doorns and Government and the African Union’s lack of intervention in the torture of our Zimbabwe brothers and sisters and trade union leaders in Zimbabwe.

Sikhula Sonke appalled by local ANC members in De Doorns call for a march to the refugee camp

21 February 2010

Sikhula Sonke has been shocked when we, while busy setting up to stay in Stofland for the evening heard local ANC members who went around with a bakkie and loud hailer instigating residents of Stofland to march to the refugee camp on Tuesday 23 February where Zimbabweans will be asked to leave the country.

Media: ANC denies knowledge of proposed march

22 February 2010 – EWN

De Doorns police said on Monday they had not received any requests from the ANC in the region to stage a protest march.

It is understood the party was planning a march to a safety site for foreigners in the town.

Media: They are cashing in on misery

10 December 2009
Anna Majavu – Sowetan Political Notebook

Political parties dilly-dally while Zimbabweans suffer

XENOPHOBIC violence is on the rise again and political parties are proving themselves useless at even coming close to rooting out the causes or preventing future attacks.

Media: Xhosa attack ‘far more sinister’

Note: Why were so many AbM members who are both Zulu and Xhosa attacked, injured, and had their homes destroyed if it were just about ethnic violence?  The ANC are calling it ethnic violence to distract attention from their role in organising the attacks.

29 Sep 2009
Sharlene Packree – The Witness

SECURITY has been increased in Durban’s Kennedy Road settlement after two men were murdered in a mob attack linked to tensions between Zulu and Xhosa shack dwellers.

Mthokozisi Ndlovu and Ndumiso Mnguni were killed when a mob told all Xhosas to leave the settlement. Chaos broke out just after 7 pm on Sunday night when the mob ran through the settlement looking for Xhosa residents.

Local and Somali shopkeepers have just signed a historic deal to help prevent xenophobia in Cape Town

Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Release
Wednesday August 19, 2009

Local and Somali shopkeepers have agreed on and now signed a deal to help avert xenophobia-related violence in Gugulethu, Philippi and Samora Machel.  Both groups have agreed that this deal is meant to be a blueprint for other small businesses in other communities and will help them prevent a re-do of last year’s xenophobic pogroms.

The joint committee sign the deal yesterday, the 17th of August 2009 after months of community meetings and sometimes tense negotiations.

As mediators, Anti-Eviction Campaign activists are working to release the document to all affected parties.  In the next week, this document will be made available to members of the public and relevant stakeholders (and will also be posted for download on our website).

Until then, it is important to note that latent tension will remain until government gets its act together and ends its anti-poor policies which subsidise large businesses like Spar, Shoprite and Pick n’ Pay.  We would also like to note that the deal was signed with support of a UN representative but despite the near complete absence of support from City, Provincial or National government even though they were invited to participate.

For more information, contact our mediator, Mncedisi, at 078 580 8646

For our archive of information and articles on xenophobia in South Africa, click here.

Some spaza shops are not small businesses, some are corrupt, oppressive, and promote crime

Newfields Village Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Release

Sunday, 2 August, 2009 – For immediate release

A few days ago, a well-off businessman named Abdul attempted to stab a member of the Newfields Village Anti-Eviction Campaign Community Representative Committee (CRC) when we went with other committee members to deliver a memorandum of understanding about Abdul’s corrupt and condemnable business practices in the Newfields Village community.

This is a sensitive issue, not because the community’s actions are in any way wrong or that Abdul’s practices are in any way acceptable, but because Abdul, a businessman who owns a large number of spaza shops in the Hanover Park area, also happens to be a Somalian. So we ask in advance that all journalists who would like to report on this issue, take care not to misrepresent the Newfields Village community.

Background:

Newfields Village, one of the public housing schemes controlled by the corrupt Cape Town Community Housing Company, is a tight-knit but poor community. Crime is relatively low in the area because, when residents moved in to the houses, they vowed to prevent any drug-lords, shebeens and gangs from entering the community. They have been able to do so because would-be crime bosses know the community is organised and know that they are not welcome. The Newfields Village community has vowed that if any unsavory or exploitative business enters the community (whether a drug house, a shebeen or a corrupt spaza shop), they will close it down.

Opinion: It’s not xenophobia

29 July 2009
Peter Alexander and Peter Pfaffe – Sowetan

Promises made but nothing has happened

CONCERN that service delivery protests will degenerate into xenophobic violence was fuelled by reports from Balfour, Mpumalanga.

But there is a history of opposition to xenophobia in Balfour’s township, Siyathemba. An analysis of the protest must take a different form.

This was said by Mohammed Waqas, spokesman for 30 foreign nationals, mostly Ethiopians, gathered outside Balfour police station.

Media: Bid to ‘extinguish’ attacks on Somalis

July 26, 2009 Edition 1
VUYO MABANDLA – Cape Argus

A meeting is to be held today in Gugulethu in a bid to reduce tensions and “extinguish” a rise in xenophobic abuse of Somali traders by locals.

This comes after a series of attacks in Samora Machel last week in which seven Somali shops were forcefully closed down by local traders.