By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Migrants in South Africa say they are living in fear after foreign-owned businesses were set on fire in the northwestern city of Rustenburg late Tuesday.
“We are now scared these attacks could spread to other cities. Our shops and homes could be looted,” Somali shopkeeper Mohamed Abdullah told Anadolu Agency in Johannesburg on Thursday.
He said their businesses are their only source of income as they cannot find employment in a country plagued by high unemployment.
Residents of Rustenburg went on a rampage Tuesday, burning six buildings where foreign nationals had businesses, claiming they were drug dens and brothels.
Community members denied the violence was xenophobic in nature.
But Marc Gbaffou, chair of the Africa Diaspora Forum, said he believes the attacks have all the signs of past anti-immigrant violence.
“What is happening in Rustenburg is exactly a photocopy of what happened in Johannesburg last year,” he said.
Last year, mobs burned homes belonging to Nigerians living in Rosetenville, a Johannesburg suburb, accusing them of selling drugs and running brothels. The protest later spread to the capital Pretoria and other cities.
“I’ve started pulling merchandise from my shops because I’m afraid if mobs strike they will loot the stores,” an Egyptian national who did not want to be named told Anadolu Agency.
Anti-immigrant violence is common in South Africa. In 2008, about 60 migrants lost their lives during such violence. In 2015, seven people also lost their lives in renewed violence that left hundreds displaced from their homes and businesses.
South Africa is host to tens of thousands of refugees and migrants from across Africa and other parts of the world.
Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has condemned the violence and warned residents not to take the law into their own hands. Police are hunting for 50 suspects involved in burning of the six buildings in Rustenburg.