Several foreign owned shops have been looted in Tembisa
over night. Residents of the township on the East Rand said they were avenging
the killing of a Pretoria taxi driver allegedly by a foreign national.
The looting spree started before midnight on Sunday.
Residents also said they wanted to rid
townships of foreigners.
One of the residents Nhlanhla Nkambule told SowetanLIVE
that they were fed up with foreign nationals in their community.
“They come here and sell drugs to our children. They also
killed a taxi driver in Pretoria because they want to sell drugs,” Nkambule
said.
But other residents said they did not know what had
triggered the looting of shops.
Ekurhuleni MMC for Community Safety Frans Mmoko said the situation was contained before it spread
to other parts of the township.
“We have managed to keep the situation localised in one
area. We don’t want it to spill over to other parts (of Tembisa) and we will be
camping here to make sure of that,” he said.
Mmoko said he suspected that the lootings are a result of
messages that were circulated on social media about a possible shutdown in the
township.
“We have unconfirmed information that people wanted to
hijack trucks and block the highways and freeways with them. We didn’t take
chances so we placed members at spots we thought would be targeted,” he said.
Meanwhile 41 people have been arrested following incidents
of looting and torching of buildings and vehicles in Jeppestown and surrounding
areas.
Police spokeswoman Brig Mathapelo Peters said includes the
initial four who were arrested on Sunday for public violence, whilst the rest
were arrested after they were found in some of the shops busy looting and being
in possession of stolen items, 22 in Malvern. Eight suspects were arrested
inside one shop in Vusimuzi informal settlement in Tembisa. Sowetan
More looting happening in other parts of the province such as #turffontein @SowetanLIVE pic.twitter.com/fdKd9UgKbR— Tankiso Makhetha (@Tankmaester) September 2, 2019
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