Houses, cars burn in vigilante violence
MOB JUSTICE: FOREIGNERS ACCUSED OF DRUG DEALING Nigerians say police harassed them, did not protect them when asked for help.
Two houses and numerous cars were torched in Pretoria West at the weekend when a vigilante group went on the rampage, accusing foreign nationals of peddling drugs and running brothels.
Following the spate of violent attacks, six people have been arrested on charges including public violence, arson, possession of a dangerous weapon, dealing in drugs and possession of stolen property, according to police.
Captain Augustinah Selepe said: “One female suspect was arrested after police opened cases of arson and public violence. Police arrested a further five suspects in three separate incidents – two for dealing in drugs, two for possession of stolen property and the fifth for possession of a dangerous weapon.”
Selepe cautioned the Pretoria community to avoid street justice. “The six suspects will be appearing in court soon. We urge members of the public not to take the law into their hands,” she said.
A tense calm prevailed in the area yesterday, with numerous Tshwane Metro Police Department and South African Police Service (Saps) vehicles patrolling the area.
Some Nigerian nationals complained that police did not intervene when they were attacked on Saturday. Some alleged they called police to come to their rescue, but police went on “harassing” Nigerian nationals in the area.
Selepe, however, denied the allegations that police did not intervene when the Nigerians were under attack.
“There is no such thing. It is the police’s service mandate to make sure all the people within the borders of South Africa are safe and protected. We are there to restore calm,” she said.
Lawrence Bia, who has lived in South Africa for the past 20 years, said: “We are sitting ducks simply because we have no one to protect us. The South African government has once again proven that it does not care for the lives of foreigners, especially Nigerians. Those thugs will come again to loot our hardearned assets. We are under attack from all sides now.
“We will not stand by and watch while our properties are plundered. We have legal means to defend ourselves. We are in this country for legal business and there are many South Africans living and doing business in our country,” he said.
Another Nigerian national, Jide Ajibade, said tensions between South Africans and the foreign nationals had to cease. War yielded nothing but grief.”
The African Diaspora Forum (ADF) condemned the violence, urging the South African government to “take all necessary steps to prevent attacks on foreign nationals”. – news@citizen.co.za