Sunday, March 02, 2014
Several shops belonging to Somali nationals at Pienaar, outside Nelspruit, have been looted. The attacks followed the death of a 20-year-old man, allegedly at the hand of a shop owner.
The looting started after the victim was buried. Somali business owners' representative Ali Mohamed says police are not doing enough to protect them.
Mohamed adds that they have been reporting the issue for three days to the police but nothing has been done. He indicates that the police always arrived after the shops have already been looted. The owner’s representative adds that the people who do this are school going children.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Jabu Ndubane, has denied the allegation. "We are not failing but the shops are too many and we also request some other clusters to come and assist us here at the station."
Ndubane highlights that they asked the Somali shop owners to move ahead of the funeral but they did not.