STREETS OF FURY: Ten cars torched as xenophobic violence erupts in Soweto

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> Ten cars were set alight in Orlando West, Soweto, on Thursday following violence between community members and foreign shop owners.

Residents had gathered on the streets on Thursday afternoon, upset by the recent Constitutional Court judgment on asylum seekers.

According to community leader Tshepo Mposule, residents were angered by the judgment and subsequent Home Affairs directive, which stated that foreign nationals should be allowed to apply for asylum regardless of whether they had entered the country legally.

“People are really angry because they came here peacefully to say that the issue of illegal migration needs urgent attention from our government,” said Mposule. “On hearing about the court judgment, they came to voice out their dissatisfaction, and this was directed to the government of the day, so they went to Home Affairs.”

The march to the Home Affairs offices went according to plan, Mposule said, with the community remaining peaceful.

Then things changed. Some members of the community began looking for foreign-owned shops with the intention of shutting them down.

According to Mposule, the crowd had moved to a corner shop when a car carrying several armed foreign shop owners arrived.

The confrontation unfolded in the presence of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD). Attempts to contact JMPD spokesperson Superintendent Xolani Fihla were unsuccessful.

Community members demanded that the shop owners open their businesses, but they refused, said Mposule.

“What led to the torching of cars was the throwing of stones by the foreign shop owner ... at residents. The residents then retaliated,” said Mposule.

He added that two residents and one foreign shop owner were arrested by the police, but the police have yet to confirm this.

“The last straw for the residents was when the foreign shop owners fired shots at [them]. The community retaliated, and the foreign shop owners began to retreat,” said Mposule.

“Things were not supposed to escalate to this level because this was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration. Unfortunately, the residents became angry, and they started torching the cars. About 10 cars were set alight, and we are really disappointed, because I repeat, this was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration.”

Witnesses said some rioters looted bottles of methylated spirits from one of the spaza shops and used them to set the cars alight.