Somali commentators , unsophisticated pundits, keyboard warriors and others have used terms such as “cawaan (savages) to describe these heinous crimes. Others have invoked the historical fact that Somalia was in the forefront in aiding and abating the ANC during the struggle against apartheid; i.e. REER KONFUUR AFRIKA SIDAAN U SOORNE NOOGU MA AAYSAN HAMBEEYNIN" ( Eng; we served them well but they gave us the finger"
For the past five years, hundreds of somalis have been burned alive, murdered, maimed and axed in South Africa. The reasons for these vicious acts are many; envy from incumbent shop keepers, gang related murder sprees, etc…
This is my empirical insights;
Jean-Paul Sartre, the French existentialist philosopher once wrote” Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you”.
Durban, South Africa, 2011. Your correspondent was attending a conference in Durban. The venue of the conference was a five-star hotel that was roughly 300 meters from the shores of the Indian Ocean.
The food was great, the hotel staffs were friendly. As in many other places in developing countries, vice (prostitution) was a feature.
The hotel manager and the conference organisers warned us against faring outside the comfort of the hotel- not least to the city centre because of the presence of gangs, pickpockets, robbers and Nigerian drug gangs.
Visiting the beach is fine but we should be on our guard, we were told. Visiting other places was not recommended expect with police/security escorts.
Durban is the third largest city in South Africa. It is the capital of Kwazulu Natal province. a diverse city which represents the rainbow nation of south African. But, it is still divided and uneven; whites own big business (mainly in the city centre), Indians and other coloured people (Durban has the largest number of indians in South Africa) own business around the second ring. Africans live either in the townships or in the greater Durban area where desttution, poverty, diseases are rampant. Basic utilities are absent although the ANC government has been doing a lot. But dismantling the legacy of aparthied will probably take a century.
During the second day of the conference, a trip was organised to the University of KwaZulu-Natal (a merger between University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville(apartheid university). The dean of faculty, an Indian woman of around 50 years gave a burning speech on the history of South Africa, the history of Durban and the pain and legacy of apartheid. She informed the audience that she was a young ANC activist in the 80s and hade spent years in prison for breaking a law on intrusion. Apparently, the apartheid regime has instituted byelaws which divided the city into three sectors; the beach view area and the old town were white only areas, Africans lived in townshops without basic provisions and the Indians and other colored people in between.
The professor mentioned that it was difficult to protest in the city centre because of a myriad of laws and byelaws that could be used against the protesters. The ANC supporters devised a plan. If they took boats from the outskirts of Durban and directed them to the main beach, then they are basically not breaking any law, they reasoned. A convoy of boats with anti-apartheid placards descended on the beach on a bright afternoon. The boats were boarded and everyone on received jail terms of between 6-18 months.
During this second afternoon, I went to the beach accompanied by a German woman. She was tall and strong thus dwarfing my Somali body. She asked me whether I will go swimming. I said no because to “somalis water was precious and shouldn’t be wasted on things like swimming “ (see this thread and notice Waryaa's response; viewtopic.php?f=18&t=302465
When my German colleague went to swim, I remained on the beach and noticed a skinny hawker who was a mirror image of me; Spaghetti legs, chicken chest, thin. He approached my chair and I remembered an old yarn ; During the second war the British and the Italians established a system to differentiate somalis from other our black brethren. Uttering the word “Waryaa” would make the somalis look back.
I said; waryaa and in a millisecond we looked at each other.
Walaalkey, ii waran he said in a distinct banaadiri ascent.
Fiicaan akhi replied your correspondent followed by the regular “ ma soomali baad tahay? Soomaali kuma moodeeynin”
I did not want to disrupt his business so, I told him “ gado alaabtaada, waan joogaaye”. He replied to my surprise “ maya alaab maalin kaste waan gadi karaa laakin nin soomali ah oo xeebta jiifa maalin kasto lama arko”.
We engaged in almost two hours of “ storytelling and questioning”. Xamar inteed ka deganeed? Hadda inteed degantahay? Meesha soomali badan ma degan tahay? Noolosha meeshaan ka waran? Yurub ka waran? Etc.
He told me that he had been in SA for five years and that there is a substantial somali community – though not as big as the ones in Johanesbourg or Cape Town. The somalis he said are mainly business owners in the townships or hawk in the main market.
He informed me that the security situation was perilous; Indian shopkeepers – and later on South African ones- who had a monopoly in the townships were tested by somali entrepreneurs who through a network of supply chains provided goods at a cheaper price. Although no deaths were reported in Kwazulu Natal that year, the writings were on the wall; Envy from Indians and other business leaders towards Somalis shop owners has led to intimidation, harassment etc.
There is talk of marauding gangs who were paid by incumbent business owners to drive somalis out of SA.
He mentioned that somalis meet on Fridays after the Jumca prayers and that I was more than welcome to join them for a feast (sab, amuur) on Friday. He does not have a driver’s license but he will ask a friend to pick me at 11.
I was picked at the hotel. After prayers, our car joined a convoy of around 20 cars and headed out of town to a big restaurant.
Ooh what a day it was!
During lunch, we engaged in fadhi-ku-dirir treatise. Not the political drivel, bunk and malarkey concerning the nation of our dream – somali- but on the situation in South. The latest statistics on deaths of somalis were presented, adjusted and discussed. Proximate causes of the plight of somalis in South Africa were and strategies to counter potential death squads were analyzed in depth.
The frequent “ waxaani waa cawaan” “ dalkeeni ayaan ku noqoneeynaa” “ gumeeysiga in lagu soo celiyo Sood Afrika ayaa fiicaneyd” “ dawlad la’aan baa na haaysto” etc were heard.
But, the highlight of the fadhi-ku-dirir assembly was when this gentleman of 50 said; walaalayaal aanu runta isu sheegno; waa koowe dilalka ma khuseeyaan dadka soomaalidda keliye, teeda kale, meeshaan meel noo dhaanto malaha”
Your correspondent listened without uttering but couldn’t release the thought of Cry, The Beloved Country (Alan Paton who was born in Durban, SA) “The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that things are not mended again.”
In conclusion, the answer to why somalis are targeted could be found not in "RACE" " RELIGION" or "Ethnicity" but in the historical injustice which will take years to reverse
