South Africa: Threats Against Shopkeepers Spread
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Cape Argus (Cape Town)
6 September 2008
Posted to the web 6 September 2008
<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Threats against foreigners who own businesses have spread from Khayelitsha to Du Noon, Kraaifontein and Grabouw.
Daily newspapers reported on Friday that Somali business owners in Khayelitsha had been warned to close shop for three weeks until the Zanokhanyo Retailers' Association could find "a solution for the influx of your shops into our communities".
The letter "orders" Somali shopkeepers to close their shops between August 25 and September 14.
The warning spread fear among foreign nationals, who were returning to their communities after a wave of xenophobia in May.
In a strongly worded press statement yesterday, the City of Cape Town and the provincial government said they would not tolerate acts of xenophobia.
City and provincial officials met at the provincial joint operations centre on Friday to discuss the situation.
They were told that similar threats from the business sector had been made against foreign nationals in Du Noon, Kraaifontein and Grabouw.
Police are investigating cases of intimidation.
Dr Hildegarde Fast, head of provincial disaster efforts, and Hans Smit, the city's executive director of housing, said in a joint statement: "Any threat against foreign nationals will result in action by the police."
The Zanokhanyo Retailers' Association is associated with the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Khayelitsha branch.
Mandisi Njoli, the secretary of the chamber in Khayelitsha, insisted there was "nothing xenophobic" about the action.
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He said local spaza shops were collapsing and Somali shopkeepers were benefiting.
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