Durban - EThekwini mayor, James Nxumalo, has tasked municipal officials to regulate township trading – a move aimed at rooting out the recent outbreak of violent attacks targeting foreign entrepreneurs.
Nxumalo spoke on Wednesday after the murder of two Ethiopian shopkeepers at his home town of Inchanga.
The mayor said the city had spoken to local businesses in the Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu area – where foreigners have also been attacked recently – and said they “understood” their concerns.
“As part of the solution we have tasked relevant municipal departments to develop a policy or by-laws that would regulate the opening of businesses in townships,” he said.
The Ethiopians were shot dead on Monday night at their tuck shop by a group of unknown people. Police had since set up a cluster-level task team to apprehend the criminals, police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, said.
Nxumalo said: “We are very concerned about this situation. Just last week we were at the INK area (Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu) and Newlands where we were meeting the local business forums to discuss the tensions that exist between local business people and foreign nationals.
“We will also be engaging with the forum of foreign nationals and local people who are renting out their properties so that we can come up with an inclusive solution. We call on our people to be tolerant and not engage in acts of violence that are against the law,” he said.
Nxumalo said concerns of local businesses were being “exploited” by criminals and said he believed the attacks were not xenophobic, but were “the work of criminals who are opportunists”.
Economist, Professor Bonke Dumisa, said although he understood Nxumalo was motivated by trying to address or remove the “discomfort” about foreign business owners, there were already by-laws and regulations. “They exist but are not enforced.”
eThekwini spokesman, Thabo Mofokeng, said this morning they were working with the Saps to ensure enforcement of the existing by-laws and regulations.
He said they would take another look at the regulations to identify gaps and ensure enforcement.
Dumisa warned that some were so stifling that their enforcement “to the core”, would stifle businesses in the township, impacting foreigners and locals alike.
Dumisa said the solution was to get to the bottom of the spitefulness of local community members against foreigners despite some of the businesses bringing in new jobs and skills and not being in competition with locally-owned business.
Mofokeng said complaints by locals included unfair competition with foreign-owned shops selling the same supplies next to theirs, or erecting shops within private residences.
“The by-laws are not meant to stifle business. Our aim is to have them regulate where and how a business can be open.” He said they would also look at existing laws and work with locals, foreign nationals, business support and the relevant government departments.
Dumisa said: “The level of disgruntlement against foreigners in KZN is much lower than in other provinces, with some communities even protecting their foreign neighbours and thus removing the xenophobic excuse for robberies and looting.”
The looting and damage of foreign-owned shops flared up in Johannesburg townships Soweto and Kagiso last month. It was reported that more than 1 000 foreign-owned shops were damaged and looted in attacks seemingly spurred by the death of a Soweto teenager.
A Somali shopowner was arrested. There have been several instances of foreign shop thefts and murders in Umlazi, Inanda and most recently Inchanga.
Director of UKZN’s Centre for Civil Society, Patrick Bond, warned that “the most critical and difficult challenge is getting to the root of the township retail shopping xenophobia crisis without blaming the victim”.
“Mayor Nxumalo is raising the danger level by implying his regulations will address the root causes, which include over-trading within a low-income market in a desperately weak economy, presumably by making it harder for immigrants to do business. Any regulations that do that would run the risk of being declared unconstitutional. Like so many municipal crisis-generated policies, this move appears to be a distraction.”
Bond said: “A genuine, long-lasting solution will come when there is prosperity in these markets, so that local spaza shops and the larger immigrant networks work cohesively without ruinous competition. In the meantime, the most vital need is for people-to-people solidarity, so that we understand why so many refugees are in South Africa and what can be done to protect their lives and livelihoods from xenophobic attacks.”
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