Durban - Lawlessness and criminals jumping on the bandwagon are being blamed for the looting and attacks on foreigners sweeping Durban.
State Security spokesman, Brian Dube said on Wednesday that a high-level task team was being set up.
“It is some form of afrophobia that is playing itself out with elements of criminality.”
On Wednesday crowds were again developing on Dr Pixley ka Seme (West) Street and there was a report of injuries from a flare up in Phoenix.
On Tuesday mobs rampaged through the city centre attacking foreign-owned shops with rumours flying that they would soon move to the Point area and Overport.
Dube said: “We must remember that this whole thing started as a labour dispute in Isipingo, which spread to other parts of Durban. It is now essential that this task force does its work so we can get behind what is the cause of this violence and how we can prevent it,” he said.
KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas said the violence was being perpetrated by organised criminals hiding behind a strong xenophobic sentiment.
“When the violence broke out in KwaMashu last week I got reports from people in the community that there were people driving fancy cars that were targeting specific Somali-owned shops. That in itself is evidence that this is not purely xenophobic violence, but is linked to something.
“Who is behind this? I do not know, but our intelligence service should have been able to pick this up. It is not surprising that they did not (pick it up) because they are caught up in political battles, which is sad as foreigners in this country are victims of a social breakdown.
“At this rate we are on the road to anarchy,” she said.
Nigel Gumede, a member of the eThekwini Municipality’s executive committee, said in a housing committee meeting on Tuesday that in some instances people were targeting foreign shopkeepers because they owed them money.
“They borrow money from the shop owners and, because they don’t want to pay back the R5 000 they have borrowed, they will go and chase them away. As independently minded people we should not be attacking other human beings. It is not right,” he said.
Several incidents unfolded in the city on Tuesday with police using stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets to control both the agitators and foreigners who were prepared to stand their ground.
On Tuesday the initial drama took place about 2km away from where Malusi Gigaba, the Minister of Home Affairs, KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu and deputy mayor, Nomvuzo Shabalala, were at a media briefing talking about the violence, how it should be stopped and how Home Affairs would respond.
At about 12.30pm word spread that people were on their way to attack foreigners and their shops.
Parts of Dr Pixley ka Seme (West) Street were closed off by the SAPS and metro police.
On one side of the street, local residents were swearing at Ethiopians and Somalis who owned shops across the road.
Police told the Somalis and Ethiopians, who were becoming agitated, to return to their shops and dispersed the crowd.
Load shedding was under way at the same time and staff who would normally be serving customers, were on the streets, swelling numbers.
A street vendor was overheard on her cellphone saying “these people should be burnt”.
Rumours that trouble was on the way had reached further down the road to Mahatma Gandhi (Point) Road, where a crowd of about 500 foreign nationals had gathered outside the China Mall.
Debris was scattered across the road, concrete bins had been smashed and tyres were burning. As the police fired tear gas into the crowd, foreigners and South Africans who were watching, fled.
Some foreigners said they were worried, but would not fight back.
“How can we fight? We are in the minority. How can a foreigner fight a citizen?” said a man called Roger from Liberia.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) national, Kalmas Boyenga, said he was shocked.
“I heard that these Zulu guys are breaking the shops and that they are coming to Point (Mahatma Gandhi) Road. We came out to see when they are coming,” he said.
As the crowd dispersed, police had to rush to Park Street to calm down a group of about 200 foreigners who had gathered in anticipation of an attack.
Alice Kabwe, 39, from the DRC, said she had been told that foreigners were no longer welcome. “Our boys are prepared as some are soldiers,” Kabwe said.
And as she said this, a man from DRC stepped up and displayed a bush knife that he had concealed on his waist. Kabwe, who said she had been in the country for 22 years said: “This is worse than 2008.”
The mother of six said her children did not go to school on Tuesday.
“We came here as refugees and it is sad to see this happening from fellow Africans.”
Some South Africans in Park Street, like Trevor Bhengu from uMlazi, expressed shock. “Foreigners were calling us, daring us, as they were armed with bush knives. We are no longer comfortable. These people must go,” he said.
In Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday, youth stormed the shop of a foreigner in the France township, looting and vandalising a superette.
The shop, owned by a Pakistani, was all but destroyed by a gang of 50 high school pupils from the area at about 2pm.
The shopkeeper, who fled, was later found with an unlicensed firearm.
Meanwhile, two men have been arrested for the murder of a teenager who was shot dead at Lindelani, outside Durban, while looting a shop, KwaZulu-Natal police confirmed on Wednesday.
Provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Jay Naicker, said two South African men, aged 25 and 32, had been charged following the killing of 14-year-old Thabo Mzobe who was shot three times on Tuesday night in the KwaNdlanzi area of Lindelani.
The suspects are expected to appear in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Daily News and ANA