Archive for the ‘greenmarket’ tag
Xenophobic attacks ‘hurt’ Greenmarket traders
Cape Times, 30 May 2008
IT’S business as usual for traders in Greenmarket Square this week, except one thing: customers are in short supply.
Since xenophobia-related attacks started in the Western Cape, traders at the normally bustling tourist destination have reported a 70-80% decrease in business.
“Look, it’s a graveyard,” said trader Trevor Ebden, his eyes scanning the maze of stalls where only a handful of shoppers browsed.
“This place is usually packed by 8 o’clock in the morning. It’s the worst I’ve seen in 30 years.”
“No tourists are coming,” said Kenyan trader James N Leah. “No one can keep their businesses like this.”
Trading in the townships, with the exception of Langa, has shut down completely, according to Mohammed Hirsi of the Mitchells Plain Traders Association.
For the more fortunate traders – those based in Greenmarket Square or Adderley Street who also live in central Cape Town – the mood is tense despite the fact that there have been few reports of attacks or property damage.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” said one Zimbabwean trader, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Traders who live in townships said they had been staying with friends in central Cape Town.
“There is this kind of agony where people don’t know what they’re going to do next,” said Hirsi. “It’ll take them a long time to get their confidence back.”
A South African who works side by side with foreigners said: “It’s very sad. They came out here to earn a living. They came with an open mind,” said Edmund Francis, a flower seller on Adderley Street. “This affects all of us.”
Violence spreads to informal settlements around Cape Town
UPDATE: read about the story on IOL’s (parent company of Cape Times) website.
Today’s front page
The Capetonians — cabbies, reporters, legal advocates for refugees, social workers and African traders at Greenmarket (an outdoors souvenir market for tourists) — I’ve spoken to this week didn’t think the xenophobic violence would spread from Joburg to down here.
Last night, however, something did. Hundreds of foreigners fled from the informal settlements around Cape Town, escorted in police vans, after being kicked out by their neighbors. A half dozen Somali shops were looted.
The Cape Times article is locked to nonsubscribers but here are the highlights:
“… the looting had started after a community meeting about the xenophobic clashes in Gauteng and how it may spread to the Western Cape…” [Gauteng is the region of South Africa containing Johannesburg]
“A joint operations centre had been set up [at the Killarney race course] and disaster management, police and other emergency personnel swarmed the area speaking on walkie talkies. One could be heard trying to set up a temporary mortuary in case violence erupted and people were killed.”
“A number of Somalis stood in the street, flagging down police vans and begging the officers to escort them back into the area so they could find missing relatives … The sirens often drowned out their voices as some of them tried to contact family members with their cellphones and had to give up as they could not hear.”
“… more than 100 people from other parts of Africa living in an informal settlement in Knysna sought refuge at the town’s police station last night after five Somali-owned spaza shops were looted. Although none of the foreigners living in Witlokasie had been attacked or received threats, they felt at risk, police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said. They were given accommodation in a community hall.”
“Said Stephen Ngobeni, Regional Manager of Metrorail in the Western Cape: ‘Commuters can expect random searches on trains and at stations to ensure that no weapons are taken on to trains or stations. We ask our customers to bear with the inconvenience, but our actions are taken with their safety at heart.’”
The reporters have been telling me that anti-Somali sentiments have been around for a long time here — Somalis look different, speak a different language (Arabic) and have a different religion (Sunni Islam). As they were keeping watch on violence spreading to Cape Town earlier this week, they were careful to distinguish between the usual anti-Somali cases and anything new.
Also this week Germany, the U.S. and other Western nations issued travel advisories for South Africa due to the mess in Gauteng. For the most part I don’t feel scared, because for now at least it appears to be a black-on-black issue.
