A political party with seven seats in the South African Parliament and a notorious anti-migrant organisation have issued threats to foreign owners of spazas – small township shops – in the area of Johannesburg.
Following a shooting incident, Operation Dudula‘s spokesperson Zandile Dabula said: “We intend on closing down more shops on Saturday, not just in White City and Mofolo, but other parts of Soweto. We cannot allow people coming from other countries to kill us in our own backyards,” she said.
They have joined forces with the Patriotic Alliance, which is now in parliament.
Soweto has been a hotspot for tension between locals and spaza shops run by foreign nationals.
- In 2021, widespread looting took place across South Africa after the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma, which led to a nationwide shutdown and looting in Soweto.
- In 2019, dozens of foreign-owned spaza shops were targeted in a widespread looting spree by residents in various townships in Soweto. Police arrested numerous people for public violence and possession of stolen goods.
- In August 2018, residents in Tshepisong, west of Johannesburg, engaged in a looting spree of foreign-owned shops after claiming they were selling expired food items. Four people were killed during the week-long violence.
Source: News24
Fear grips parts of Soweto as Operation Dudula plans to shut down foreign-owned spaza shops
Tankiso Makhetha
- A 21-year-old man is in hospital after being shot twice during an altercation with a spaza shop owner in White City.
- Operation Dudula has threatened to close down foreign-owned shops in parts of Soweto in response.
- Police say a suspect has been arrested and charged with attempted murder.
Tensions have reached boiling point in some Soweto neighbourhoods after the shooting of a 21-year-old man led members of Operation Dudula and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) to force the closure of foreign-owned spaza shops in White City this week.
Lusanda Ngcobo was shot twice in the stomach inside a spaza shop on Saturday during an altercation with the owner, sparking tensions with locals that many fear will lead to another round of xenophobic violence and looting across Gauteng’s largest township.
The anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula told News24 on Thursday that it would extend its operations to close foreign-owned shops to other neighbourhoods on Saturday, from White City and Mofolo to “surrounding townships”.
Ngcobo, who is in Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, was shot after he and a friend bought a bottle of cold drink from the store.
Police spokesperson Colonel Noxolo Kweza said a suspect was arrested in connection with the shooting and a case of attempted murder was being investigated.
Operation Dudula’s spokesperson Zandile Dabula said Ngcobo’s shooting was the last straw for many residents who are angry following recent reports of expired food, allegedly bought from township tuck shops, which had been given to children who died.
However, only one of those was in Soweto, and in the suburb of Naledi.
“We intend on closing down more shops on Saturday, not just in White City and Mofolo, but other parts of Soweto. We cannot allow people coming from other countries to kill us in our own backyards,” she said.
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While Operation Dudula claims to have shut down “many” foreign-owned stores in the area, Kweza denied that any had been forced to close in White City, where the shooting occurred, or Mofolo, where Ngcobo lives.
“As a result of the shooting incident, Moroka police, together with JMPD [Johannesburg Metro Police Department] members, have been monitoring the situation at White City following allegations of shops being closed. At this stage, no shops were closed and no injuries reported,” she said.
However, White City Supermarket, the shop where the shooting took place, was forced to close by outraged protesters. A video circulating on social media shows the shop’s owners loading their stock onto a truck as a crowd surrounds them and jeers in the background.
News24 visited the store and found it empty.
Samuel Makgoa, the owner of the property where the store is located, said while his tenants removed most of their stock before fleeing, residents in the area looted what was left.
“They even took the fridges, but fortunately the police recovered them,” he said.
He added:
It’s not right what people are doing. Yes, we agree that something bad happened here, but people do not have the right to chase people away. These guys who run shops are also human and they are here to make a living.
Another resident said it would be difficult to expel foreign nationals because they had become part of the townships’ social fabric.
Bongiwe Mchunu said some store owners helped families who rent out properties to them while also allowing poorer shoppers to buy goods on credit.
“These guys have kids with local women as well. Do you think that they will leave South Africa easily? It’s not going to happen. They know that they are a part of our communities even though some community members do not like them. They know they have become like extended family members,” she said
Other foreign nationals who own shops told News24 that the area was thick with tension.
Huzaifa Patel, a store owner in White City, said he was afraid for his life but had to remain because the store he runs allows him to make a living.
Patel, who is from Bangladesh, said he has been running his store for two years and provides an essential service to locals.
“I am scared because we know what happens when people in the area turn their backs on you. They will loot and harm you. We have told our brothers to be ready because we don’t know when the looting will start again and if we will be chased out of the community,” he said.
There are many who would like to see them leave.
21-year-old Lusanda Ngcobo was shot twice during an altercation with an owner of a foreign owned spaza in White City. (Supplied)
A video that went viral on TikTok appears to show members of Operation Dudula and others wearing PA T-shirts harassing a Bangladeshi employee of the White City Supermarket.
PA spokesperson Steve Motale said although their members were participating in shutting down spaza shops, the party did not sanction this.
“This was not an operation initiated by the organisation, but it was triggered by community members. Our members are also part of the community and, as such, they stood in solidarity with them.
“People will take matters into their own hands if government does not do anything. Government needs to deport illegal immigrants. We are not xenophobic, but government needs to protect its people,” said Motale.
The South African Spaza and Tuckshop Association said it had been pleading with the government to take action against foreign-owned shops in townships because of the “unfair competition” they present to locally owned businesses.
The organisation’s deputy president, Mike Ramathopo, said they staged a picket at the Union Buildings in June to ask the government to intervene and prevent situations such as Ngcobo’s shooting.
“Local government doesn’t want to take action, as well as the provincial [government], so we went to national [government] and we were chased away. These are the kinds of things that happen when we allow people from other countries to operate in our townships without being regulated. These guys don’t even have papers to be in the country legally, so how are they operating businesses without giving back to the country?” he said.
READ | Tsakane community divided over spaza shops after 6-year-old’s death
Ngcobo’s friend, Thando Mabuza, 21, who was there when Ngcobo was shot, spoke to News24 from Ngcobo’s Mofolo home, about 2km from White City Supermarket.
He said he and Ngcobo were returning from work and passed by the shop to buy a bottle of cold drink and cups.
“We were shocked when the owner of the store came to us and pushed us out of the store. We resisted and had a verbal altercation. We left the store briefly, but Lusanda remembered that he bought airtime and wanted to claim it,” he said.
Mabuza claimed the owner of the shop then pulled out a stick and allegedly assaulted them. Mabuza said he managed to get away before he pulled out his phone to record the incident.
“He started with Lusanda and I recorded what was happening. He then turned around and assaulted me, that is when I poured the contents of my cup on him. Lusanda and him then wrestled and he [Lusanda] was dragged into the store where he was accosted by the owner’s four associates who proceeded to close the door,” said Mabuza.
“I then heard two gunshots going off inside the store.”
Ngcobo’s mother, Phumzile Mnisi, said her son told her that after he was dragged into the store, he picked up a brick and threw it at the owner.
She said her son only realised he had been shot when he left the store and was walking away with Mabuza.
“He told me that he doesn’t know who shot him when the gun was fired,” said Mnisi.
He was then rushed to hospital for surgery.
“The doctors told us that there were holes in his intestines and that he had lost a lot of blood. He had two operations and was moved from the ICU,” she said.
Soweto has been a hotspot for tension between locals and spaza shops run by foreign nationals.
- In 2021, widespread looting took place across South Africa after the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma, which led to a nationwide shutdown and looting in Soweto.
- In 2019, dozens of foreign-owned spaza shops were targeted in a widespread looting spree by residents in various townships in Soweto. Police arrested numerous people for public violence and possession of stolen goods.
- In August 2018, residents in Tshepisong, west of Johannesburg, engaged in a looting spree of foreign-owned shops after claiming they were selling expired food items. Four people were killed during the week-long violence.
Martin Plaut 