Pretoria - ”Uncle, Uncle! I’m dying!” These were the screams that woke up a Soshanguve landlord in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The screams were from a Somali shopkeeper, Ibrahim Rana, whose tuckshop had been set alight.
Rana and his colleague Ismail Ismail were sleeping in the shop when it was allegedly set alight.
The landlord, who did not want to be named, said: “Seeing them burning was very painful. Everyone in the yard woke up and the children were traumatised.”
He believed the incident was not related to xenophobia and suspected it was just criminal activity.
He said he suspected Rana knew his attackers and that’s why they burnt them.
Rana suffered 80 percent burns to his body and was admitted to the ICU section of the George Mukhari Hospital.
Ismail is in a serious but stable condition at the same hospital.
The landlord said the intruders stole airtime, food and money before burning the pair.
He said once the community realised that the house was on fire, they rallied around to try to assist.
“People came from all directions with buckets full of water to try to extinguish the flames. Others called ambulances and the police,” he said.
The landlord said their relationship was not purely business. “Ibrahim is a great guy. He loves everyone and gets along well with the community. He is like a member of my family,” he said.
On Thursday afternoon, community members gathered on the scene to try to clean up the tuckshop.
Soshanguve police spokesman Warrant Officer Matthews Nkoadi confirmed the incident and said they were investigating a case of armed robbery and attempted murder. Another neighbour said when the duo were rescued from the tuckshop, their skins were peeling off.
“They kept on screaming and crying. It was horrible to see. Ibrahim’s fingers are now gone and most of his skin was peeled off.”
The neighbour said this was not the first attack on the Somali tuckshops in the township.
“There was another attack in the TT section.
“We are going to have a meeting concerning the attacks and how we can stop them.
“We are also worried about our own safety.”
Nkoadi confirmed that break-ins into foreign-owned shops were rife in township.
On the TT section case, Nkoadi said: “The shop was owned by Pakistanis and the assailants stole R10 000 cash and R3 000 in airtime. They also shot the owner on the arm before fleeing on foot.
“There were no witnesses and we are still searching for suspects.”
Pretoria News