Foreign couple's house torched in riot

IN THE FIRING LINE: Rosettenville residents fed up with drug dealers and prostitution took to their streets to push back against the crimes, where the police had to shoot tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them.Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi

IN THE FIRING LINE: Rosettenville residents fed up with drug dealers and prostitution took to their streets to push back against the crimes, where the police had to shoot tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them.Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi

Published Feb 13, 2017

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Blackened and covered in ash, Malawian couple Albert and Elubey Mwanza stood in the gutted room that was once their home.

They were among some of the foreign nationals affected after at least 16 houses were torched during heavy protests that have hit Rosettenville for a second weekend in a row.

Residents said they’d had enough of the house hijackings, drug dens and prostitution that have plagued the area, making it unsafe because of the entrenched criminal element that’s made the suburb home.

Swarming with law enforcement, patrols and officers on horseback, the area was tense but calm as some innocent residents caught up in the violence tried to pick-up the pieces.

Left with just the clothes on their back, the couple are at a loss about what to do.

“Everything is gone, we slept outside last night with our one-year-old child, we have nowhere else to go and nowhere to sleep,” Elubey said.

“They threw fire (petrol bombs) through the windows after they stole everything, we had to go and hide,” she said, visibly traumatised.

“The house is owned by Nigerians and that’s why we think they came here, they think we are all Nigerian, but no one here is Nigerian.

“We both work hard to earn our money, I work at a car wash and my husband is a mechanic.

“We have done nothing wrong and I just don’t understand this. What did we do?” Albert added.

Elubey said there was also a Zimbabwean, a Mozambican, an Ethiopian and a South African renting rooms in the house. They had all run away and not come back.

The couple said clothes, plasma TV’s, money, birth certificates and identity documents were among the items that were either burnt or stolen.

They have pleaded with the public to help them as they have no money to buy nappies, clothes or food for their child.

The violence comes only days after raids were conducted by the City of Joburg, the Joburg metro police department (JMPD) and the SAPS.

Michael Sun, the member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for public safety who was on scene on Saturday, said the area “descended into chaos” after SAPS officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd, who were initially protesting peacefully.

“This not only angered the protesters, but prompted community members to take the law into their own hands.

“Angry residents chanting ‘Burn, Burn, Burn’ began to attack suspicious drug dens and brothels and set them alight,” he said.

“While the City is stepping up its efforts in the eradication of crime in Joburg, it will take the co-operation of the residents to make it happen.

“As much as we are all in the fight against crime, we simply cannot allow for the residents to take the law into their own hand and risk the safety of innocent bystanders,” Sun said.

Community leader and resident Simphiwe Hlafa emphasised that they did not condone the burning and looting of homes.

“This is not in our programme and we are very clear that such behaviour cannot be accepted. We are against any criminal activity.

“We are trying to clean the brothels and drug dens and give our homeless a place to stay,” he said.

Gauteng police spokesman Captain Kay Makhubele said nine people had been arrested so far.

Makhubele added that there were Home Affairs officials in the area dealing with illegal immigrants as well as stop and search operations being conducted.

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