A WAR on foreign shops seems to be brewing again.
This was after three shops and a car belonging to a foreigner were burned in Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu on Thursday night.
It’s believed that local business owners who have been outspoken in their opposition to foreigners lately were behind the attacks.
They marched last month to express their unhappiness about the number of foreign shops.
A 45-year-old resident of Ntuzuma told Daily Sun people arrived in three vans and told customers and a worker at a shop to leave before throwing petrol bombs into the store.
“The three foreigners in the shop ran out to save their lives,” she said.
“The men also burned the back room where the foreigners slept. They then got into their vans and drove away. The foreigners were left with only the clothes they were wearing and fled immediately.”
She said the owner of the house that the shop was in lives in Joburg and rents it out.
Another resident from Inanda said a car belonging to a foreigner was burned in the area.
“In other areas, shops were looted. I heard this was because local business people are fed up with foreigners. They accused them of selling illegal things,” said the resident.
KZN police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane confirmed that shops were looted and burned.
“No arrests have been made and cops are still investigating,” he said.
Mandla Sibiya, the spokesman for local business owners, couldn’t be reached on his cellphone.
eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede’s spokesman Mthunzi Gumede said the mayor’s office had held several meetings with business people where they responded to their grievances.
Asked about the outcome of the meetings, Gumede said the premier’s office had the outcome. Thami Ngidi, spokesman for Premier Willies Mchunu, said the premier is aware of the incidents and is meeting the business people.
