- A group calling itself Soweto Uprising 2026 gave Dube landlords letters on Monday demanding that foreign spaza owners leave immediately.
- Landlord Patricia Mbatha, 70, wants her tenant out but fears community members will attack her, thinking she is protecting him.
A group calling itself Soweto Uprising 2026 handed letters to landlords in Dube on Monday, 12 October, demanding that foreign spaza shop owners leave with immediate effect.
The name first appeared during the unrest from Thursday, 8 October. Scrolla.Africa found no earlier reporting on a group by that name.
The group visited more than 10 spaza shops. In a letter seen by Scrolla.Africa, the group demands that recipients “cease all illegal activities in our community with immediate closure of spaza shops of immigrants”, the letter reads.
The group typed the letter and signed it “Children of Soil, Sowetans, South Africans”. It does not mention legal status or give a time frame. It is not a court order.
The group first gave shop owners five to seven days to move out. A man addressing the crowd in a video from the demonstration said that no longer applies: “It says immediate effect and that’s where it ends.”
Community leader Lelo Mnyaka said she personally wants foreigners to be in South Africa legally, so they can be traced and registered.
Scrolla.Africa could not reach any foreign shop owners for comment.
Patricia Mbatha, 70, a Dube landlord, has always wanted her tenant to leave.
“I fear that some community members who are fighting against illegal immigration will end up coming into my house and attacking me thinking I’m protecting the tenant,” she said.
According to SAPS, 30 people have been arrested since Thursday, 8 October, 25 in KwaZulu-Natal and five in Gauteng, for offences including public violence, illegal gathering, obstruction and resisting arrest.
On Saturday, 10 October, KwaZulu-Natal police arrested a man accused of threatening to shut down Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban to stop the MTN8 final.
The government wants court guidance on a Constitutional Court asylum ruling. Home Affairs plans online registration by 10 November.
