Residents Oppose Operation Dudula’s Actions Against Somali Shops
The residents are angry after a 21-year-old was allegedly shot twice and is now fighting for his life in hospital.
Following an incident where 21-year-old Lusanda Ngxongo who was allegedly shot twice by one of the Pakistanian shopkeepers on August 10, Operation Dudula and Patriotic Alliance have joined forces to shut down foreign owned spaza shops in White City.
The 21-year-old is currently fighting for his life in ICU.
Siphiwe Shabangu, Head of the Labour and Employment Desk for Operation Dudula mentioned that they do not care about the people’s reaction.
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“We are not concerned about the reaction of the community. It might happen that others are beneficiaries of what is happening but what they don’t see is that these people are not here to serve the community of South Africans.
“They are here to kill us hence they even have the guts of having guns and shooting people as they have done with Lusanda,” Shabangu said.
“If these people were coming here as asylum seekers, they must go to refugee camps and do something else but not operate shops. These shops are meant to be operated by South Africans.”
Ndumiso Xaba, uncle of the victim accused the police of protecting the perpetrators instead of protecting South Africans, saying they are not okay and are negatively impacted by this situation.
He further stated that after the incident, the store owners were escorted and given assistance in relocating their items.
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He also claimed that his family was threatened with arrest by the police who said they were interfering with their work.
“Our justice system has failed us and we believe that the police have received some form of a bribe from the suspects. We are saying this because of the treatment we as the family of the victim received.
“We are very disappointed with the system and we did try to take the matter further but nothing is being done.
“The police did promise to call us but till now we haven’t received any call and nothing solid has been done,” continued Xaba.
Meanwhile, White City residents stuck to their words saying they won’t allow the shutdown to continue because the shop owners are very helpful to them.
Victor Nkosi, one of the community leaders spoke about why the store in question should not be closed down.
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“This store is not going anywhere, it’s not going anywhere because it’s a huge help to the community of White City.
“It helps the community members with selling things to them even when they don’t have money and even when there’s funerals they contribute in the community,” said Nkosi.
Members of the SAPS Public Order Police arrived on the scene to try and defuse the situation.
