Shopkeeper shot over protection fee refusal

A SHOPKEEPER in Samora Machel has been shot and wounded by unknown suspects after allegedly refusing to pay them a protection fee.

The 32-year-old Malawian shopkeeper in Chris Hani Street was injured in a shooting on Sunday just before 8pm.

On Friday, two people were killed and two others wounded when alleged gang members in Khayelitsha, believed to have just collected protection fee money from a local shop and travelling in a taxi, came under fire from a rival gang.

Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said the Samora Machel suspects fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash and airtime.

“Cases of business robbery and attempted murder are being investigated by Samora Machel Police.”

Samora Machel Community Policing Forum (CPF) spokesperson Bongani Maqungwana said unknown cars were being monitored by community patrols in the area following the incident.

“This has shocked us. The shops were operating like supermarkets… but after this incident we have engaged with the shop owners to put (up) burglar bars for protection.”

He said the same criminals were believed to be behind the attacks and robberies of city service officials and workers.

“We are working in hand with the SAPS to arrest the instigators of shop robberies,” said Maqungwana

A Samora Machel resident who asked not to be named said the robberies might drive shop owners away from the area.

“The suspects were at the shop days before the incident. They demanded money and he refused. Obviously they knew that he was by himself that day,” the resident said.