Chaos and violence erupted in the city last week.
Parts of the Germiston CBD were eerily quiet last Tuesday, with shops lining the inner-city streets locked up tight, while in other areas gunshots rang out.
Even the Golden Walk, which is usually packed with customers, was closed, with roller doors blocking each entrance.
SAPS and EMPD officers closed off several streets surrounding the Germiston Taxi Rank last Tuesday morning, where incidents of looting and criminality had been reported.
The officers escorted commuters out of the taxi rank in small groups with the aim of filtering out the criminal elements.
“The criminals hid within the Germiston Taxi Rank,” said Const Maxwell Mabunda, the communications officer for the Germiston police.
When the threat of violence became known last Monday, many local business owners tried to protect their goods and stores by keeping their doors locked.
However, this did not stop the perpetrators, who ransacked and damaged a number of businesses last Monday night.
When journalists from the GCN and sister newspaper Bedfordview and Edenvale News visited the CBD last Tuesday, many business owners could be seen assessing the damage to their shops while others loaded as many goods as they could into waiting vehicles before fleeing the scene.
“It is estimated that 30 shops surrounding the Germiston Taxi Rank were looted,” said Mabunda.
“The looters targeted not only foreign-owned shops, but locally owned shops, as well.
“Police have arrested 35 suspects for public violence, to date.
“When they found the shop owners in their shops they would chase them away and take whatever they wanted from the shops.
“Shops in Dukathole were also looted last Monday.”
Local business owner Naser Bukharia explained that his store had been completely cleaned out.
“They broke in and took everything,” Bukharia said.
“I don’t think we will continue to operate in the CBD any more.
“They say it’s an attack against foreigners, but we are from South Africa.”
Another shop owner, Kingsley Akachukwu, the owner of Maduchi Electronics, explained that his shop in President Street had also been broken into and all his stock stolen.
Akachukwu has seven employees who depend on the income they earn at his store to support their families.
Germiston police and the Germiston SAPS Task Team were active in the CBD last Tuesday afternoon helping business owners remove their stock from their shops to prevent further losses.
“Business owners contacted the police to facilitate these services,” said Mabunda.
At one of these operations in President Street, attended by a GCN journalist, a group of bystanders attempted to rush a shop as it was being emptied.
Rubber bullets were fired at the looters while a crowd of men, women and children looked on.
ALSO READ: Chaos reigns in Germiston CBD
A CBD resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, witnessed some of the looting in the CBD.
“There was absolutely no control and, therefore, the looting continued with no end in sight,” the resident said.
“Police forces should be on the ground at all times.
“It was really depressing.
“The saddest thing is the businesses are being destroyed by our own South African brothers and sisters.”
Const Daphney Phooko, the communications officer for the Elsburg SAPS, told the GCN that three shops in the Elsburg policing area were looted since widespread violence broke out in Gauteng last Sunday.
She said the looted shops are located in Rondebult Extension Two.
Phooko added that in Elsburg itself shops in the CBD closed their doors last Tuesday due to the threat of looting, but none occurred.
ALSO READ: Makhura, police commissioner brief media on violence in Gauteng
In Primrose police responded to a report of public unrest last Monday morning at 1.30am at Rainbow Restaurant on Rietfontein Road, where people had gathered and were burning tyres in the road.
“They forcefully broke into the restaurant and looted liquor and a TV set.
“No arrests were made and a public violence docket was opened at the Primrose Police Station,” said Capt André de Jager, the spokesperson for Ekurhuleni District Zone Four.
In another incident later in the morning, the Public Order Police and Primrose SAPS were called to a protected wage strike at Waltons inPencil Park.
“Police officers negotiated with the protest leaders as they had stopped traffic by burning tyres.
“They were told not to do this and reminded that they were only allowed to be at the entrance to the office park,” said de Jager.
“The protestors then walked to the gate and closed it, stopping personnel from other companies entering the premises.
“Again the Public Order Police’s commander engaged with them, but the protestors did not comply with their strike mandate.
“The Public Order Police then shot rubber bullets to disperse the protestors and three suspects, aged 57, 52 and 44, were arrested and detained for public violence.”
De Jager added that another suspect was arrested on a charge of malicious damage to property in Rietfontein Road at about 10am last Monday.
The owner of City Fish and Chips called the Primrose police after the 28-year-old man walked into the shop and broke the fridge inside the shop.
“The suspect allegedly called other people to join him in looting the shop, but nobody joined him,” said de Jager.
“The police arrived, chased the suspect and arrested him.”
Just as the situation seemed to be calming down, new tension swept through the city on Wednesday when rumours claiming that schools and their learners were under threat began to circulate on social media.
Local police responded to the rumours.
Const Sivenkosi Mtwa, spokesperson for the Katlehong police, confirmed the rumours of schools in the area having been set alight were false after officers from the station visited several schools.
Phooko said, “The information was false and no threats were made.
“We can confirm that learners from Buhle Park and Rondebult primary and high schools were released from school as a result of the rumours.”
Mabunda, confirmed officers from the Germiston Police Station also visited schools within their precinct but the rumours of schools and learners being targeted were not true.
ALSO READ: Germiston CBD shops closed as threats of violence, looting circulate
Pine Pienaar, vice-chairperson of Lambton Klip Sector Four CPF, Germiston Station, urged the community to verify information before they share it.
“The past few days saw Germiston and its surrounds in turmoil, and false rumours that were spread created unnecessary panic and fear,” Pienaar said.
“These rumours not only damage our crippled economy but also our image to the outside world.
“People create so called ‘crime fighting’ or ‘sharing groups’ where false information and rumours are spread instead of becoming part of recognised structures such as the community policing forums where information is verified before it is shared.”
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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za or Leigh Hodgson (News Editor) leighh@caxton.co.za.
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