Kraaifontein’s local spaza shops appear to have capitalised on the vacuum created by the exodus of Somali traders.
|||Cape Town - Locally-owned spaza shops in Kraaifontein appear to have capitalised on the vacuum created by last week’s exodus of Somali shopowners by raising the prices of essential goods.
Braam Hanekom, director of refugee rights NGO People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty, said: “This is common in the aftermath of such attacks. In the sudden absence of these stores, there are often shortages in essential goods. Prices at available stores get inflated.”
Shops owned by locals were untouched by rampant looting in Wallacedene and Bloekombos last week. These are often more expensive than their Somali-owned counterparts, residents say. During a visit to Bloekombos, some residents complained that prices for essentials had been further increased at the remaining shops.
“In some places a loaf of bread costs R15 now, where the Somalis used to sell it for R5 or R6... I think it is time for the Somalis to return, because it is inconvenient to travel to Shoprite if one wants to pay reasonable prices,” said Lebo Leteba, 37, of Bloekombos.
Less than a week after fleeing from the mob that broke down the gates of his corner store, Yuusuf Warsame has tentatively moved some essential stock back in. His business in Bloekombos was one of the first looted stores to re-open, and on Monday it was trading as normal.
Warsame was one of about 200 predominantly Somali shopkeepers who were displaced and robbed when a protest over alleged corruption in RDP housing allocation turned to rampant looting. On Wednesday and Thursday, hundreds of residents looted shops, before setting some of them alight. Police and looters were engaged in running battles on the streets of the Kraaifontein township, 55 people were arrested on charges of public violence. Meanwhile, dozens of Zimbabweans and Somalis sheltered outside the local police station for protection.
Most Zimbabwean men and women had also returned to their homes, after threats that looters would turn on their private property failed to materialise, Hanekom said.
Re-integration is only possible for those shopkeepers with cash flow and support structures to replace their lost merchandise.
Many, like Abdul Kadir, 24, have been bankrupted and have to start from scratch. This is the second time Kadir lost everything to looters since moving to South Africa in 2008.
On Tuesday, 33 people (including eight juveniles) appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on charges of public violence. The case for the adults, who were remanded to Pollsmoor Prison, was postponed until July 1 and 2. The juveniles were released into the custody of their parents, their cases postponed until August 23.
Cape Argus