Ruthlessly exploited by a protection racket that has already seen four Somalis killed and a fifth critically injured this past week, these men and women feel stuck in the middle — if they return home they risk being killed, and if they stay in SA their futures look grim.
Under siege — that is how they have described their lives as spaza shop owners in Nelson Mandela Bay’s townships.
“He might have been a nobody, but to his family he was a breadwinner,” were the desperate words of one victim’s devastated uncle.
Four Somali shop owners had been gunned down in similar style in the metro after they apparently refused to pay for protection from violence.
The first shopkeeper was shot dead on Monday. Then on Friday morning two more were killed, with a third shot dead later that evening, along with a person injured.
After the string of killings, members of the Somalis community gathered in Durban Road, Korsten, on Saturday and led a delegation to New Brighton, where they held a meeting with the police to seek a resolution.
Emotions ran high outside the New Brighton police station as women, covered in traditional Somali wear with red bands on their heads, held up placards which read: “Stop killing us fellow Africans.”
From New Brighton they moved to Malabar, where they held an emotional burial for the three men who had been killed on Friday.
As a result, most of the Somali-owned spaza shops were closed for much of the weekend.
Two shop owners were shot dead in KwaNobuhle and New Brighton on Friday at 11.30am.
Abdinissir Abukar, 38, was fatally shot and his assistant and brother, Mohamed, 28, wounded during a robbery on Friday morning.
Abdinissir’s uncle, Hassan Mohamed, one of the first people to arrive at the crime scene, said his family had lost a breadwinner.
“It [devastated] me to see my nephew’s body lying there like that,” he said.
“To the people who killed him he may have been a nobody, but his family has lost a provider.
“We’re all tired of being victimised and we no longer see a reason to stay here if we’re going to die. But we can’t go back home because it is a war zone,” an emotional Hassan said.
He said Mohamed’s wife had been unable to speak since the attack.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said Abdinissir had been offloading stock outside his Khama Street shop when three armed men arrived, demanding that he open the shop.
“A fight broke out between the owner and the suspects, which resulted in him being killed.
“On hearing the shots, his assistant rushed out and was also shot,” Naidu said.
The suspects allegedly fled with cash and groceries.
A few hours later, at about 7.30pm, Apbirahman and Makil Buti were attacked by two armed men inside their shop in Vuku Street, New Brighton.
Both men were shot before the suspects fled in a white Mazda bakkie with cash, cigarettes and groceries.
One of the men died on the scene and the other on his way to hospital, according to the police.
“The suspects abandoned the bakkie in Dyanti Street in Kwazakhele and fled on foot.
“All the groceries were in the vehicle. A 7.65 pistol was found [nearby],” Naidu said.
She said two counts of murder and a business robbery were now under investigation by the New Brighton detectives.
Apbirahman’s relative, Noor Abdi, blamed his death on the government, saying it had failed to provide safety for foreign nationals.
He said Apbirahman’s family had now been left in fear and without a provider.
“If we could go back to Somalia we would, but no place is safe for us, even our homes.
“There is no winning because if we don’t agree to pay for our safety we will die, but if we do agree we will be giving up hard-earned money that should be used to take care of our children,” Abdi said.
He called for the government to take action against the victimisation of foreigners.
The three men killed on Friday were buried during an emotional ceremony in Malabar on Saturday afternoon.
Friday’s incidents followed just days after Hussein Ibrahim, 35, was killed in similar style in his New Brighton shop the previous Monday.
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Irate Somalis nationals and businessmen on Saturday said the SA government was failing to protect them from criminals.
They believe the killings are as a result of the ongoing demand for foreign shop owners to pay a monthly “protection fee” to a group of unknown men who call themselves the neighbourhood watch.
For more than a year, foreign shop owners have allegedly been forced to fork out R1,500 a month to the group who said the shop owners needed to pay to protect their businesses from criminals.
Mohamed Abdi, a Korsten-based shop owner, said those who refused to pay the protection fee were subjected to intimidation.
“Since last year, a lot of us have been receiving notices from this group saying we must pay, but not everyone has been willing to comply even though we know that those who don’t comply are risking their lives and businesses.
“They said if we don’t pay, they won’t protect us if anything happens to our businesses,” he said.
Ibrahim, who was killed on Monday, was one of the shop owners who had refused to pay the fee, Abdi said.
Asked if they had reported the alleged threats to the police, Mohamed said the police were aware but no-one had officially lodged a case as they feared for their lives.
He said the group operated in various townships in the metro.
“Nobody wants to come forward because we have no-one to protect us. The [SA] government is failing to protect us and if they won’t protect us they must let the embassy do something to fight for us,” he said.
Another businessman and Somali community leader Aly Osman said criminals were taking food from the mouths of desperate families.
“It’s very difficult for Somalis to feel safe. Shop owners are being forced to pay protection fees from money that they need to feed their families.
“Children are losing their fathers and wives are losing their husbands while no-one is protecting us.
“Communities are scared and you are only safe if you pay the protection fee,” Osman said.
Naidu said on Sunday that police had in fact been made aware of the extortion.
“From our conversation with [the shop owners] on Saturday, they also mentioned this. However, I cannot confirm whether any cases were opened by them,” Naidu said.
Osman said Saturday’s meeting had yielded unsatisfactory results but all parties had agreed to organise a follow-up meeting.
HeraldLIVE
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