Hopeville under siege

The residents of Hopeville near Rocky Drift were awoken by four deafening bomb blasts at the Maliwa Place Tavern and Shopping Centre on Monday December 12 at 00:30.

The blasts were used to gain access to the tavern, shops and the boarding rooms where shocked residents soon found themselves being held up at gunpoint and forced to hand over all the cash they possessed.

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Businessman Petros Tamrte, who owns multiple businesses in the area, including Maliwa Place, rushed to the scene where he found one of the residents had been hit by shrapnel from the blasts.

By the time Tamrte arrived, the criminals had left the scene with over R50 000. The suspects had carried rifles and handguns.

Tamrte immediately called the police and ambulance. The SAPS failed to arrive until 08:00, but an ambulance did arrive on the scene. Medical personnel assessed the man’s injuries, which were minor.

Investigating officer Sergeant SB Nkosi was on the scene this morning and said it would be difficult to identify the suspects from the CCTV footage. The SAPS was waiting for the bomb squad and a forensics team to arrive at the time of being published.

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“This attack would appear to have a xenophobic motivation,” he said. Tamrte is an Ethiopian national, as are many of his co-workers.

Shocked residents agreed that this is purely intimidation to force him to close down his business operations in the area.

“The money they took was just a bonus. This robbery was sending a message for foreign nationals to get out,” said one Hopeville resident.

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The incident follows a spate of armed robberies in Hopeville over the past few months in which the businesses of three foreign nationals were targeted.

The White River SAPS said an informant has come forward and a criminal gang, which is allegedly based in Barberton, is being investigated.

CCTV footage revealed four initial suspects climbing over the gate and sauntering nonchalantly around the tavern’s parking lot, adjacent shops and boarding rooms, before fixing incendiary devices to four of the heavily barred doors into the small complex.

One suspect then attached wiring to Tamrte’s Isuzu bakkie’s headlights in order to detonate the bombs. The bakkie was badly damaged by the first two simultaneous blasts.

An anonymous resident said these criminals are being brought in from outside, under the leadership of a well-known local political figure. It is this outside gang that White River SAPS is currently investigating.

“The mastermind is local, but he brings his henchmen in from outside the area,” he said.

Multiple gunshots had also ripped into the buildings and one of the vehicles at Maliwa Place. Walls and roofs were left with large holes from shrapnel from the blasts.