A group of residents rose in the early hours of the morning, set up a loudhailer in a sedan and drove around the settlement, calling on others to confront the numerous Somali shopkeepers in the area.
But other residents defended the foreigners who were being told to leave by the mob.
The people with the loudhailer drew support from about 200 residents, who discussed how they would remove the Somalis from the settlement.
The group, rallied in the freezing cold by community leader Johannes Ramaropene, were told to approach the foreign-owned businesses, asking for the owner’s residency permit and tax clearance certificate.
If these were not provided, they were told to “remove” the owners.
Ramaropene, a recently suspended member of the Reiger Park Business Forum, spoke angrily to an eager crowd about the alleged Somali threat to the community.
“Our money, our South African economy is affected,” shouted Ramaropene. “This is not Somalia.”
He accused police of accepting protection money from foreigners so that they could keep on operating their businesses “illegally”.
The business forum, which said earlier this year it wanted to solve the foreign shopkeeper issue without confrontation, was not present, except for one woman who claimed to be a member.
By 10am, two police vans with a few heavily armed officers approached the crowd and attempted to disperse them.
Officers were allegedly trying to arrest the leaders of the group, but the crowd told the police to arrest them as well.
As tensions rose between residents and the officers, the police decided to simply monitor the situation.
The crowd requested the police help them close the illegal shops, but they refused.
“The correct way is to lay a complaint at the (Reiger Park police) station, so that we can investigate properly,” said station commander Colonel Barry Mashaba.
Ignoring police attempts to stop them, about half of the crowd began to approach dozens of spaza shops on the main roads, shouting at the owners and telling them to leave. Persistent police patrols made sure the crowd did not become violent.
In a surprising move, residents living close to the shops also demonstrated their disapproval of the harassment by toyi-toying.
“This is totally unnecessary,” said resident Mavis Kunene. “These shops help the community. They open early and sell cheap (products).”
At HornAfric, a larger grocery store, owner Guracho Mohammed simply nodded when confronted by about a dozen protesters and told to get out of the area. He went back inside his building, looking perplexed. After he was harassed, he told The Star he was relieved the crowd had not become violent, despite numerous threats.
By 1pm, most of the crowd had dispersed, leaving shopkeepers torn between opening up their businesses or remaining shut. An hour later, they remained closed.
Constable Mashudu Phathela of the Reiger Park police station said that often the hidden aim of residents ganging together to incite the removal of foreign shopkeepers was to loot the premises. Phathela and Mashaba said an increased police presence would keep the peace throughout the night.
Some Ramaphosa residents have spent years attempting to clear the area of foreigners, culminating in the 2008 xenophobic attacks, which resulted in the violent deaths of dozens of non-South Africans. - SHAIN GERMANER
