Chaos erupts in Soweto, as the

A general view of a looted grocery shop is seen in Kagiso, a township west of Johannesburg on January 23, 2015. Townships around Johannesburg including Soweto have been hit by looters targeting foreign owned stores. South African police said Friday they had arrested 121 people after mobs went on a looting spree of grocery stores […]

Chaos erupts in Soweto, as the xenophobic violence is dismissed as random criminality

A week of lootings and violence targeting foreign nationals has been dismissed by government as criminality. SA Human Rights Commission and The African Diaspora Forum deplore government to recognise attacks as xenobhobic

Chaos erupts in Soweto, as the

A general view of a looted grocery shop is seen in Kagiso, a township west of Johannesburg on January 23, 2015. Townships around Johannesburg including Soweto have been hit by looters targeting foreign owned stores. South African police said Friday they had arrested 121 people after mobs went on a looting spree of grocery stores […]

Violence and looting flooded areas of Soweto last week after 14-year-old Siphiwe Mahori was shot dead in Snake Park near Dobsonville. The boy had reportedly been in a group that set upon a Somalian-owned shop on 19 January. He was shot dead when owner Senosi Yusuf allegedly shot at the group.

Residents retaliated and began looting shops belonging to foreigners. The violence sparked across Soweto and into Kagiso, Sebokeng and Alexandra, resulting in five further deaths.

Soweto Looting
A general view of a looted grocery shop is seen in Kagiso, a township west of Johannesburg on January 23, 2015. Photo by: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images

A 19-year-old bystander was reportedly killed when police fired into a crowd surrounding a Pakistani-owned shop in Naledi on 21 January. The boy, Nhlanhla Monareng who was believed to be friends with the Pakistanis, was declared dead on arrival at hospital.

Dan Mokwena, a 74-year-old Malawian shopkeeper was attacked and murdered early in the morning on 21 January. According to The Star, Mokwena was sleeping in his shop when he was killed. Reports said Mokwena was found with his intestines hanging out and his penis had been doused with paraffin and set alight.

An 18-month-old baby, Nqobile Majozi, was trampled to death by a crowd fleeing a Pakistani spaza shop in Kagiso on 23 January. He had been strapped to his mother’s chest. There are conflicting reports as to whether his mother, Zanele Majozi was part of those who were looting or not, reported Times Live.

Early in the morning of 26 January, spaza shops were set alight in Alexandra and two looters were shot dead in Langlaagte, confirmed Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale.

In Kagiso, 54 police vehicles were deployed with 120 additional police and in Soweto, 51 vehicles and 113 additional police.

According to Police spokesperson Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale, 178 suspects have been arrested on charges of public violence and being in possession of suspected stolen property. 83 have appeared in the Protea Magistrate’s Court and their cases have been postponed to 28 and 29 January. The remaining 95 include six juveniles (who were released into the custody of their parents), who appeared in the Kagiso and Protea Magistrate’s Courts on 26 January.

Even though only foreign nationals were targeted in the attacks, Gauteng police commissioner Lesetja Mothiba has denied that the attacks were xenophobic. Gauteng community safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malubane further claimed that the attacks were not an outbreak of xenophobia and rather just “criminality”, reported Daily Maverick.

Deputy minister in the presidency, Buti Manamela described the lootings as criminal activity by young people.

“Everybody says what happened in the past few days at this township was xenophobic attacks, … I do not think it was that… it is what it is… it is young people who decided to commit crime in their own communities,” he said.

However, Manamela did warn that there would be an outbreak of tribalism in the country if illegal attacks on people from other countries did not stop soon.

“Once we turn on other Africans, because they are not from within our borders, when we’ve chased them away, the next thing to happen is that you will be looking at your neighbour and saying this one is a Muvenda, he must go back to Venda, this one is a Xhosa, he must go back to Pondoland, this one is a Sotho, he must go back to Lesotho.

“We must stand up against those who see others as sub-humans, because those who commit such crimes will be coming for you and me,” he said.

The government took too long to intervene during the last mass outbreak of xenophobic violence in 2008, which resulted in the death of 62 people and the displacement of thousands of migrants. The government initially denied that the attacks were xenophobic then too.

The SA Human Rights Commission has said that the attacks should not be considered criminality as foreign nationals have been targeted.

“The fact that they target only foreign-owned shops has a xenophobic undertone which is concerning … It seems like we have not learned from 2008 [when xenophobic riots spread across Johannesburg] … we have missed an opportunity,” said commission spokesman Isaac Mangena.

In an open letter to President Zuma, Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba and Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko, The African Diaspora Forum (ADF) begged for government to recognise the recent attacks on foreign nationals as xenophobic.

“The government has denied that there is xenophobia in South Africa, always questioning the nature of this violence and attributing it to ‘crime’, instead of recognising it for what it is – xenophobic violence – i.e. crime targeting foreigners. We are still to hear top members of government condemning the current xenophobic violence. This attitude, from our perspective, has condoned the violence and allowed it to reach institutional heights,” wrote ADF Chairperson, Marc Gbaffou.

A photograph captured by The Times shows three police officers walking away from a looting in White City Soweto on 22 January.


In a separate incident, another policeman was caught on camera allegedly taking part in the looting, according to The South African Press Association.

Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesman Edna Mamonyane said that the police photographed and their commander would be traced to provide an explanation. She continued to explain that officers were outnumbered by the crowds in Soweto.