Ransacked shelves and discarded packaging were all that remained inside several shops near the port city of Durban on Wednesday, which were looted during protests demanding that undocumented foreign nationals leave South Africa.
Several thousand people marched across the country Tuesday after a weeks-long campaign led by fringe groups for illegal migrants to go home by June 30, a push that had already led thousands to flee.
Police were out in force for the protests, announcing Wednesday that most were peaceful but around 900 people were arrested over the day, some for looting.
In Clermont outside Durban, looters stripped shops of food, appliances, building material and clothing following the demonstrations, the owners said.
Some estimated losses running into millions of rand, saying they were uncertain whether they would be able to reopen.
Mohamed Abdul, 29, said a large group of protesters stormed his shop selling food, hardware and clothing at around 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) Tuesday.
“We are not illegal in the country but they just started looting. I was scared and felt betrayed because we had 19 people employed here but today they have no job,” Abdul said.
“The protesters were screaming at us and calling us names in Zulu,” he said.
Originally from Somalia, Abdul said he had been based in the area for 11 years.
“The community knows me and this is one of the main stores people rely on and we used to donate to families who have nothing.”
The looters even took an ATM machine that had been inside the supermarket, he said, but the safe was left outside.
– 900 arrests –
Fearful of a repeat of unrest five years ago when around 350 people were killed, the government imposed major security for Tuesday’s marches.
It was the first coordinated nationwide day of demonstrations in weeks of protests against illegal migrants who are accused by protest groups of taking work from locals.
A government multi-agency security body said there were 120 marches nationwide Tuesday and only 12 required law enforcement intervention.
Of the more than 900 people arrested, most were undocumented foreigners and South African looters, it said.
Police said they were investigating a murder in Johannesburg’s crime-ridden township of Alexandra after a man was shot while people looted a shop owned by a foreign national.
While thousands were estimated to have taken part in the protests, they were not as large and violent as had been expected, politics expert Henning Melber told AFP.
The organisers “were too overconfident of their popularity”, said governance expert Tendai Mbanje.
Without the backing of some minor political parties, there would have been even “fewer numbers”, he said.
Growing security fears have prompted several governments, including Ghana, Mozambique and Liberia, to evacuate their citizens from South Africa.
While most of those repatriated are Malawians, thousands who had gathered at a temporary camp in Durban were transferred to a holding area more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away near South Africa’s border with Zimbabwe.
One of the buses, carrying 65 passengers, crashed near the Beitbridge border post, killing the driver and injuring seven others, South Africa’s Border Management Authority said.
In Durban, people continued to arrive at the camp to ask for help to leave a day after the demonstrations.
Nelson Chona, 32, who owned a tuck-shop in a township outside Durban, said he delayed leaving because he needed to “secure some money”.
“The landlord said I should leave or else his house might be destroyed,” he told AFP. “I feel safer here than I am where I used to stay.”
AFP
