By Palesa Matlala
- Community leader Abongile Sigobongo says Eden Park residents closed five Ethiopian owned spaza shops on Wednesday without violence or looting.
- Shop owner Abdulle says he already pays rent legally, but residents vow to shut more shops across the East Rand.
Residents in Eden Park shut down five Ethiopian owned spaza shops on Wednesday. They say the campaign will not stop there.
Hundreds of people marched through Greenfields, in the Ekurhuleni township, ordering the shop owners to pack their stock and leave. Within hours, workers were loading shelves, fridges and stock onto delivery vans, and the five shops stood empty.
Community leader Abongile Sigobongo said the shutdowns are part of a wider push spreading across the East Rand this week, and residents plan to close more shops on Thursday.
“Our mandate today is to remove foreign nationals who are running the spaza shops,” he said.
Sigobongo said the community wants shops closed peacefully to stop looting and vandalism. He said the aim is for South Africans to run these businesses themselves, with government support meant to help black and young entrepreneurs.
He also claimed some residents were threatened with firearms during the operation. Scrolla.Africa could not independently verify this.
Abdulle, who owns three of the five shops, said he rents the premises legally for R4,000 a month each.
“They must not blame us. They must ask the homeowners why they rent these shops to us. We pay rent every month like everyone else,” he said.
Resident Nomvula Navu said the community had already warned shop owners to leave before the 30 June anti-immigration protests.
“We did not arrive without warning. We told them before the 30 June deadline that they needed to leave because the community had already made its decision,” she said.
The government has said immigration laws must be enforced through legal processes, and has warned communities against taking the law into their own hands.
Police monitored the closures throughout the day. No serious injuries were reported, though some journalists covering the protest were verbally confronted by shop owners and other foreign nationals.
Pictured above: Residents in Greenfields, Eden Park forced five Ethiopian owned spaza shops to close after marching through the township.
Image source: Palesa Matlala
