Owners of spaza shops all over Grahamstown's townships say they are frustrated by just sitting around, not knowing what they are waiting for.
Owners of spaza shops all over Grahamstown's townships say they are frustrated by just sitting around, not knowing what they are waiting for.
Mobs looted scores of township spaza shops last month. The immigrant owners were moved to a safe zone following what has been described as economic xenophobia.
Shop owners whose businesses are in town have recently re-opened their shops, despite fears of more attacks. These fears are even worse for those with businesses in the township.
On Wednesday this week, Grocott's Mail spoke to three shop owners who are very keen to re-open. However, fear that the situation has not been adequately dealt with is standing in the way.
Before the looting started, immigrant shop owners felt they were an important part of the Grahamstown community. Since the xenophobic looting broke out, the very same places they regarded as their sanctuaries, have now turned into places of fear Rabiah Hissan is from Grahamstown.
She married her husband, Abir Hassan, a Bangladeshi national, in 2009 and they have a shop in Extension 8. She says the community treated them well before the attacks but that there were mixed reactions as to whether they should come back and open their shops.
"Some people when they see us here at the shop, they come and ask if we are open, because they want to buy. "We tell people who come to the shop that we are not open because we are still afraid of being attacked.
We need to get assurance from the community that we will be safe if we do come back." Rabiah believes the solution to their problem is the intervention of community leaders and a commitment from the community that they will protect them from those who have targeted the shops.
"The problem is that there are still some who pass here and say strange things – like we must open and they will come back and loot again," said Rabiah. She said her husband wanted to open the shop this week but she warned him against it.
"The problem is that there are still some who pass here and say strange things – like we must open and they will come back and loot again," said Rabiah.
She said her husband wanted to open the shop this week but she warned him against it. During the conversation with Grocott's Mail, a group of men walking past the shop said they were waiting for it to open so they could loot the stock again. Hissan said it was thugs who were still looking to attack them and not everyone in the community. She said that was why it was important for those in the community who want them to return, to stand up in their defence.
"Even those who started looting in this shop were not people from this area," said Rabiah.
"I always felt the same in this area and I know the people want us back".
Her husband, Abir, who had been resting when Grocott's arrived, woke up looking emotionally drained. He said they had not received any solid information reassuring them they can go back to their shops. Despite all of the negativity Hissan said he believed people in the township will, in time, welcome them back into the community. "I think things will eventually come back to normal," said Hissan.
Another shop owner based in Joza, Mudassar Shahzad from Pakistan, said he has been in Grahamstown for eight years. "I've got a local wife from here in Grahamstown. I know a lot of people here and they are very friendly. "Everybody was fine before that incident. I was giving other people things by credit.
"Every day people come and ask when are we opening again but can't do anything. We will wait for a statement from the police regarding that," said Shahzad. He said they were now surviving on donations and that he had no words to explain how he was feeling at the moment.
Malawian national, Phillip Lamson, who has been in and out of South Africa since 2010, says life had been very good in Grahamstown until the xenophobic looting broke out. He says the first place he went to when he arrived in South Africa was Johannesburg.
"I stayed there for a short while and moved to Grahamstown. Here I manage a friend's shop in Extension 7," he said. Lamson says he is still not comfortable when he walks around the township.
"I have to stay in one place all the time because in my mind there is still that panic."
anele@grocotts.co.za
