Reports of attacks on foreign nationals, be they refugees, immigrants, or illegal aliens continue to flood local radio station 567CapeTalk.
Shops and homes in townships across the Peninsula are being looted by gangs of youths followed by mobs including women with babies on their backs and kids in school uniform.
The violence, born of the desperation articulated in the post below, spread like wildfire to leave tens of thousands endangered, understaffed police overwhelmed, and the main refugee centre at Killarney Race Track in dire need of tents. Churches, NGOs, civic organizations, and businesses are gathering foodstuffs, clothing, and money and have set up collection points across Cape Town.
Those targeted by the violence, representing most sub-Saharan countries and having lost most of their possessions, are leaving trouble spots in droves.
A Langa resident phoned in to tell of two Somali shops looted earlier by a relatively small gang. He was sitting across the road from the shops. Asked why, if the gang was small, local residents did not point them out to the police, he asked where the cops were. He wasn't expecting to see them any time soon.
Not a minute later, when a motorist who'd just dropped off a worker in Khayalitsha phoned in to report a mob beating on the doors of a container shop dealing in cell phone repairs and parts — he suspected the shopkeeper was locked inside, all talk show host John Maytham could do was ask him to call the police.
I hope the shopkeeper got out of there alive.
A hungry country is an angry country.
IOL | Let Them Eat Cake
And so it goes... and so it will continue to go... for a while. Then there'll be a lull. People will assist our diminished population of foreigners until they tire of them or the next round of attacks start. South African shops and more established suburbs will eventually be included in such attacks.
Prices will continue to rise, certain areas will become no-go zones, and the central city will eventually see violence and looting. In each instance, too little will be done, too late. Or, paradoxically but just as disastrously, too much will be done too precipitously.
Why? Because, in one way or another, most South Africans feel gypped by an incompetent government, a usurious business sector, and indifferent neighbours. Much like today’s looters, they want those running South Africa to feel the pinch as badly as they do.
Until we concretely address this underlying feeling of having been 'left behind' and until we realise that all of us have already failed, our circumstances will continue to mirror our helpless rage.
In short, South Africans need food, shelter, leadership, and hope. And we need these things now.
Last night's unrest in Du Noon near Table View spread to other parts of Cape Town today, with youths looting shops and hundreds of foreigners fleeing their homes under police escort.Hot spots today included Du Noon and a nearby informal settlement Joe Slovo, Masiphumelele near Noordhoek, Lwandle and Nomzamo near Strand, and Philippi.
Houses were reported to be burning in Khayelitsha at the time of going to press at noon.
In Lwandle and Nomzamo, there was looting at spaza shops at 8am, local police inspector Olebogeng Tawana confirmed. A few people were arrested and patrols were continuing in the trading areas.
Today's incidents follow a wave of violence in Du Noon overnight that left a Somali man dead, others injured, hundreds displaced and many shops looted.
Police were deployed in the hot spots: last night 35 people were arrested and 10 more were rounded up today.
Cheers and jeers rang out in the streets of Du Noon this morning as police escorted foreigners out of the area.
[...]
There was also looting, stone-throwing and burning of tyres in Masiphumelele as police worked into the early hours to bring the attacks under control."We sent transport to Masiphumelele to evacuate people. But we do not encourage self-evacuation," said Rasool.
A force of 200 policeman was sent to Du Noon, while about 180 police officers were deployed to the Knysna area. Police were also sent to other hotspot areas, said Rasool.
"But there is no reason to call the army out of the barracks. Residents in Du Noon told me that if police had not acted swiftly, there would have been murders," he said.
Stones were also thrown at the homes of foreigners in Nyanga, forcing women to flee to the police station, while people in Khayelitsha, Philippi and Kuils River sought refuge at local police stations.
The police today confirmed that a Somali had been killed. Rasool said the man had apparently tried to escape the violence and had crashed his car. He also said that a South African shopkeeper was shot and wounded by another shopkeeper in Du Noon.
Cape Argus
