A spate of attacks and murders on Cape Town's Somali immigrants in August 2006 inspired me to set up this page.
Makhaya Mani |
"The one problem is that the locals don’t want to live with the Somalis and we don’t know why … These people have a place here in the Western Cape as well. We’re working to persuade the locals, but it’s a long process.”
Makhaya Mani, spokesperson of Leonard Ramatlakane, the Western Cape Minister for Community Safety |
Billy Jones |
“We have arrested and charged nine people for the 20 murders of the Somalian shop owners/keepers. These cases are investigated as purely criminal cases as these cases appear to be economically motivated,” South African Police Service media spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones |
IOL report |
"The 21-year-old Abdi Ali Muhamad was shot and killed in his spaza shop in Delft South on Saturday. Police said five men had descended on the shop in Palm Street. Three waited outside while the other two entered the shop. A single shot was fired. Muhamad was hit in the neck and died on the scene." |
Abdi Hakim |
"People are going back to Somalia now, no matter what's happening there. If we're going to die, we're going to die there in our homeland." Abdi Hakim, 35, whose grocery store in a township near Cape Town has been robbed twice this year. |
Safieh Hajie |
"I got a phone call saying he was dead, I was so sad. This is very difficult for me. I'm very afraid. I wish I could go back home. I don't think there is life for me here anymore." Safieh Hajie, wife of Delft South shop owner Yusuf Bahar Abdullahi Sheekow, 40, who was shot and killed in his shop on Monday night. |
IOL |
"A 40-year-old Somalian was shot dead and his male colleague seriously injured after three armed men robbed their store in Delft...a shop-owner, was parking his car at his house at Mango Street in Delft South on Monday night when three armed men approached the vehicle...The men opened fire on Abdille and his 34-year-old colleague who was also in the car...Abdille, who was shot in the neck, died on the scene, while his colleague was wounded on the left thigh. He was taken to a nearby hospital." report in IOL |
Abdul Gakiem Raban |
"I find it very sad that people who fought for equality and democracy are now behaving like this," Imam Abdul Gakiem Raban |
Abdul Gakiem Raban |
"I find it very sad that people who fought for equality and democracy are now behaving like this," Imam Abdul Gakiem Raban |
Malyun Aden |
"I ran from the bullet to find violence here. They hate us here. With no third alternative, I prefer to return to Somalia and take my chances there." said Malyun Aden, who ran a clothing store at Masiphumelele, near Cape Town, until it was trashed in mob attacks on Somali homes and businesses last month. |
Rhoda Kadalie |
"One would think that two murders within a week would propel the South African Police Service into action, but after 31 deaths, Nqakula and Ramatlakane are still clueless as to who the killers are, only acknowledging that it must be xenophobia. The official lethargy is astounding and just another demonstration of the state’s own prejudices...Can we imagine the outcry if 31 Germans or French were killed in such close
proximity?" Rhoda Kadalie writing in Business Day |
Rhoda Kadalie |
"Within a matter of weeks the media has reported 31 murders of Somalis in Cape Town. These hate- crimes against immigrants and refugees merely trying to make a living are the ultimate expression of xenophobia — against people who have learnt to transform their desperate situations into entrepreneurial activity...More astounding is the failure of the police to get to the bottom of who is
perpetrating these murders, especially given the promises made by Safety and
Security Minister Charles Nqakula and MEC Leonard Ramatlakane that the police
would be proactive in fighting crime. If ever there seemed to be an easy case to
handle it is this, yet the lack of political will speaks volumes of the police’s own xenophobia and failure to treat these killings seriously. These murders follow a pattern and they seem to be happening in confined areas (Du Noon near Milnerton and Masiphumelele in Fish Hoek), yet police have failed to arrest anyone.
" Rhoda Kadalie writing in Business Day |
Staff Reporter, IOL |
"Two more Somalis have been murdered in Cape Town, bringing the number killed recently in the Western Cape to 30.
A Somali man was shot dead in Delft at about 1pm on Sunday while the second victim was stabbed to death in Du Noon, Milnerton, on Saturday.
The attacks came two days after a 25-year-old Somali was fatally stabbed, also in Du Noon." |
Babalo Ndenze |
"Almost all 85 recorded Somali deaths in South Africa in a decade have been
homicides, with some thrown off moving trains, stabbed or shot, according to the
Somali Association of South Africa (Sasa)...The Western Cape has the highest official number with 38, followed by theEastern Cape with 30, Gauteng 11, KwaZulu-Natal one, two in Mpumalanga, two in
the Northern Cape and one murder in the Free State...Khayelitsha in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth's Njoli, New Brighton and Motherwell
townships, have been identified as the country's xenophobic hotspots.
" Babalo Ndenze |
Zara Nicholson |
"The killing of another Somali in Cape Town has brought the total of Somalis killed in the Western Cape this year to 28.
A 25-year-old Somali man was stabbed in the chest while walking with a 21-year-old Somali in Du Noon, Milnerton, on Thursday night. Police said the pair had been attacked by four unknown men.
The 25-year-old died on the scene." |
Zuzeka Mbokotwane |
"These businessmen are actually hiring youngsters to carry out these acts on the Somalis. The locals have had businesses for a long time, why don't they come up with new ideas and business plans." Zuzeka Mbokotwane, from the ANC's constituency office. |
Mavusi Phahlo |
"They are complaining that they are taking away their businesses. The Somalians have lower prices and when we see people buying in cheaper places, we will follow. We like their prices, they even allow us to buy on credit," Mavusi Phahlo, a member of the community, saying local shop owners were behind the attacks. |
Zuzeka Mbokotwane |
"These businessmen are actually hiring youngsters to carry out these acts on the Somalis. The locals have had businesses for a long time, why don't they come up with new ideas and business plans." Zuzeka Mbokotwane, from the ANC's constituency office. |
Khalif Mohamed |
"They took groceries and clothes. We don't know their reason, but we think it's jealousy and ignorance...We thought they were our brothers" |
Hadith Haji Adam |
"We are getting attacked day after day. But the police here are doing their best, they actually rescued us (from the community). There is a civil war in our country as everybody knows and we believed South Africa was a better place. But sometimes it is even worse than back home. And it's ordinary people doing this against us..In our country it's common violence, but here it is directed at Somalians," |
Leonard Ramatlakane |
"We condemn this type of crime, which has some xenophobic tendencies to it. Crime committed against anyone in our country, it does not matter whether one is a South African, an asylum seeker or a refugee, will be dealt with directly...We will strengthen police visibility at key points and areas which have been identified as (having) potential for further attacks," " Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane |
Murderous Mob |
"Baraka hamba! Baraka hamba!" ("Go away Somalis! Go away Somalis"). A mob announces itself during the evening of the 28th August with a clatter of stones against the tin walls of Hadith Haji Adam Osman's tiny shop, and waving machetes. |
Mukhtar Ahmed |
"I phoned the police but they never came. The people beat me up until my landlord came to intervene. The grocery shelves of his store, like other Somali stores, had been ransacked and money stolen. I told my family to go to the police station. I am also taking my stock to the police station and hopefully I'll meet them there," Somali shopkeeper Mukhtar Ahmed |
Mohamed Khalif |
"Mohamed Hassan Ahmed, 32, a shopkeeper in Delft, visited friends at a shop in Wesbank on Friday night and got into his car to go home at around 10pm, when four armed Xhosa-speaking men approached his host and told him not to move. He was also told to tell Ahmed not to leave. When Ahmed put this bakkie into reverse gear, the men fired four shots at him, injuring him in the chest and head. |
Ahmed Khalif |
"We no longer ask one another 'how are you' or 'how is your business doing?' We speak about how many Somalis have died the day before and wonder when our turn will come...We expect to be killed at any time." Somali trader Ahmed Khalif |
Phuti Setati |
"Each case has its own merits and that's it. Are they being targeted because they are Somalis? No. Crime happens to people." national police spokesperson Phuti Setati responding to refugee claims that 26 Somali traders have been murdered in the past month and that they are living in fear. |
13 October 2006 |
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2 October 2006 |
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1 October 2006 |
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20 September 2006 |
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19 September 2006 |
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17 September 2006 |
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4 September 2006 |
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4 September 2006 |
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1 September 2006 |
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30 August 2006 |
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29 August 2006 |
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28 August 2006 |
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