Economic Liberators Forum (ELF) leader Hulisani Mani has urged South African spaza shop owners and other businesses to organise themselves and fend off attacks, threats and killings allegedly instigated by foreign spaza shop owners in areas such as Heidelberg and Tembisa, where alleged threats against the lives of locals have become common.
Mani was addressing members of the media during a media briefing held at the Reef Hotel on Wednesday.
“I call on the spaza shop owners to organise themselves and protect themselves against such threats. It is important to protect our own communities and create opportunities for ourselves in our own communities. The only thing that is stopping us from taking control is that we are mobilised and not organised, which has made it easy for foreigners to come to our communities and take over our industries,” he said.
On Monday, ATM, leader Vuyo Zungula wrote to the ministers of police and state security who are expected to respond to the demands he made on the need to investigate killings and death threats against South African spaza shop owners following reported killings and threats in Ekurhuleni.
Independent Media has reported that at least four spaza shop activists in Ratanda, south of Heidelberg in Gauteng, have been killed in separate incidents in the past three weeks, allegedly by hired Lesotho nationals.
According to news reports, one of the victims was Happy Nyawuza, a prominent figure in the local business community, who was allegedly gunned down inside his tuck shop by attackers who had ostensibly come to buy airtime.
Zungula said he was prompted by disturbing reports of four Ratanga Business Forum members who were gunned down over the last month to write to the two ministers saying this was no coincidence.
“The forum was established on February 7, and within a month four members have been gunned down already ‒ a sign that this is no coincidence. If it's was an attack on all Spaza shops, whose majority is owned by Somali's, why only these four, and what do they have in common? This is why as the ATM we are saying this too much of a coincidence; this is a carefully orchestrated attack on the members of our society and therefore requires swift intervention,” Zungula said.
Zungula has indicated that his party has been engaging with community leaders on some of the issues, with most of those who spoke to the party sharing experiences of intimidation by their foreign counterparts.
“The ATM is appalled by such a sense of entitlement and we believe that it can't be distanced from the brutal murders that are taking place in the county. “This is why we are calling for the General (Bheki) Cele to protect South Africans and bring to book all the perpetrators of these gruesome acts.
Early in the week, a Tembisa-based spaza shop owner told how after raising capital to open his own spaza shop, he was told that he must close his shop as the economy belongs to Pakistani, Ethiopian, Somalian, Bangladeshi and other foreign nationals.
In Tembisa, a recent spaza shop owner who is seeking legal and political help has revealed that he was threatened by an Ethiopian group and told to close his shop because the spaza shop economy belongs to foreign nationals, and not South Africans.
However, responding to the Saturday Star, third secretary at the Pakistan High Commission, Shahid Habib Khan had this to say about the alleged attacks: The Pakistani community based in South Africa is very peaceful and they themselves have been the target of various crimes. You are requested to please share if there is any specific information that can be shared with the High Commission regarding the incidents that you are referring to.“
Saturday Star