Black South Africans in pitched battles over shrinking resources

Black South Africans fight  black migrants in fierce battles for shrinking resources – one Somalian shopkeeper stoned to death in Port Elizabeth harbour city

A week ago, in the industrial areas of Vereeniging and Sasolburg, organised gangs of black male South Africans suddenly started attacking foreign shop-owners – mostly from Somalia and Pakistan – in black townships in an organised campaign of xenophobic violence.

These armed gang-attacks occurred simultaneously from 5am last Monday-morning. Local women told their employers that the communities held meetings a month earlier in which their tactics were discussed and the decision was reached to chase the foreigners out of their country.

From last Monday, organised gangs specifically targetted foreign shop keepers, many were told to  leave South Africa, their shops were looted and torched. Last week, the shopkeepers fled in fear to local police stations such as Diepsloot and Orange Farm with their families, where they gathered on the lawns, phoning relatives to find out whether they were safe or also under attack.

Now, this violence is spreading. On Thursday 31 May 2013 Port Elizabeth’s northern areas exploded into lethal, xenophobic violence — but there, angry foreign nationals retaliated against the widespread xenophobic attacks by black South African gangs which attacked, looted and torched their shops Booysen Park. One Somalian shopkeeper was filmed being lynched by a mob of black South Africans which included youths in school-uniforms.

Yesterday, the attacked shopowners – mostly from Somalia – retaliated. Accompanied by men clad in bullet-proof vests and brandishing firearms they roared into Booysens Park in a  convoy of 20 cars and took to the streets in large groups to protect what was left of their possessions.

Two foreign-owned shops were also burnt down, a bus was torched and crowds tried to petrolbomb a TV news crew vehicle. The bus was later stripped by residents for scrap metal. After hearing of the death in Booysen Park, Somali women in Korsten blocked Durban Road.

“These hooligan acts are leaving kids without their fathers,” Alimo Mohammud, a leader of the Somali women, said.
The violence, which started with an anti-crime protest earlier in the week, swiftly turned into a confrontation between protesters and foreign shop owners yesterday. But the foreign shop owners did not just sit back and take it. The confrontation came about 9am as the foreign group, accompanied by armed men, approached a shop in Booysen informal settlement where looters were preparing to go in.  Surprised by the army of men in the convoy, the South African looterrs  screamed and ran off in different directions. And as the South African police approached, the foreign group jumped back into their cars and fled.

http://www.censorbugbear.org/farmitracker/reports/view/1074