Things heated up in the Central Business District (CBD) and police members were dispatched to calm the situation down.
According to information received, a 20-year-old woman was promised a job by a Nigerian in eMalahleni.
She arrived in eMalahleni on Wednesday night, June 21 where she was taken to a house in the CBD to stay over for the night. According to the woman, the Nigerians allegedly gave her drugs to use and she refused.
A police van blocks off the road as an ambulance waits to help the injured on Thursday, June 22 after violence broke out in the Central Business District.
On Thursday morning, June 22 she went to the long distance taxi rank to go back to Nelspruit. Whilst waiting there, a white Nissan with two Nigerian citizens picked her up. A taxi member suspected something was wrong and followed the vehicle to where it stopped in Jellicoe Street.
A Nigerian shop was looted on Thursday, June 22 in the Central Business District and the owner was attacked.
Some of the taxi owners confronted the Nigerians and the woman was rescued from them and that is when the Nigerians were assaulted at the house and were later taken to Witbank Provincial Hospital for medical treatment.
This incident sparked a flame in the CBD and a group of about 30 community members went to a Nigerian owned shop called Kasapreko in the triangle building where they damaged and looted the shop.
One Nigerian was assaulted in the shop and he was also taken to Witbank Provincial Hospital for treatment.
The situation was very tense with the Nigerian citizens mobilising against their attackers, but the SAPS kept the groups apart.
ALSO READ:
https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/95200/cbd-area-remains-volatile/
https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/94385/five-suspects-wanted-business-robbery-cbd/
