Juju Valley businesswoman loses everything in fiery attack
A case of arson was opened along with that of attempted murder, assault, theft and malicious damage to property. This after property which belongs to Mpho Tshidivhi was petrol bombed and looted on Friday.
POLOKWANE –Â Mpho Tshidivhi, an entrepreneur who works from home, had to look on as petrol bombs were thrown at her property and those responsible rejoiced in her misery. She lost items worth R300 000 during the attack.
She said in 2012, she was moved from her initial stand in the area after neighbours started complaining of the noise emanating from the multiple businesses she operates from home. Prior to working from home, Mpho was a hawker, but as the demand for her goods increased, she decided to move the businesses to her home.
A group of resident who term themselves the Juju Valley Committee, allocated a new stand for her which was near the dumping site. “I did not mind the new location, and I built up my home from scratch on the stand.”
Mpho had a fish-and-chips shack, and a tavern with all the necessary equipment for cold storage, catering and decor.
“People would ask me to stock up on certain items, which I would then do. But as soon as my business started booming, the committee then asked me to leave again, and move back to the first stand. I refused, and they became aggressive.”
According to Mpho, the committee would tell her that there are developments planned for the area that she was currently occupying, and also threatened her with “taking away everything”.
She claims the committee consisted of various EFF members and eventually Jossey Buthane, the EFF Chairperson in the province, was called to intervene.
“He told the committee they do not have a leg to stand on and they could not simply remove me just because they felt like it.”
According to Mpho, this didn’t stop the harassment.
Mpho said that last week, Buthane visited Juju Valley and demanded that the committee house, which is situated next to her stand be demolished, “as there was no one in charge of Juju Valley”.
“Jossey said Juju Valley is meant for poor people and it was donated to the EFF by the owner of the land. He said they have no right to sell stands and evict people.”
On Thursday afternoon, Mpho was approached again and told to close down her tavern. She refused.
On Friday at 20:00, a group of people arrived at the soccer field opposite her house, as she was serving customers. “No one was ready for what happened next. They started throwing petrol bombs at my property and rejoiced in the chaos that followed.”
Besides the petrol bombs, her yard had been barricaded with burning tyres. The community assisted to get all the patrons off the property, and then the looting started.
“They started beating up my customers, and people had to jump over the back fence as everything in front had been set alight.”
The fire brigade, which was alerted, struggled to get access to the property because of the barricade. By 04:00 the next morning, everything had burned to ashes.
A case of arson was opened along with that of attempted murder, assault, theft and malicious damage to property.
After BONUS visited Mpho on Tuesday, committee members once again threatened to assault her.
Contacted for comment, Buthane said the culprits, who he said were not members of the EFF, will no longer be tolerated: “This was the last straw. The community chased them away. One of the men fell during the incident, and opened an assault case.” The additional case of assault was confirmed by Constable Alli Maluleke.
