The looting has occurred due to the fact that the shop owners are foreign.
The shop owner would only consent to his first name being published as he was scared that he may become the victim of a xenophobic attack. The man only known as Frank says he has been threatened to go back to his own country and that all of his possessions in his shop will be forcefully removed from him by ‘South Africans’.
Frank said, “I am a good man who comes from a good family, I pay my taxes and contribute towards the economy. I have two children at schools in the area. I don’t deserve to be targeted by those who think it is alright to take what is not theirs just because I am from another country. I came to South Africa in 1998 and prior to that I housed a family on the run from the Apartheid regime for six months as they had nowhere else to live. How do I deserve for this to happen to me? I am not sure that I should go to the police as I am scared of them too.”
Duncan Barker, the chairmen of the Norwood Community Police Forum, said, “The shop owner receiving the threats must most certainly go to the police and lay a charge as the threats may materialise. Making threats against someone is punishable by the law.”
The shop owner is urged to lay a complaint at the Norwood Police Station.
Details: 011 483 4600.
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