Cape Town’s Immigrant Shop Owners Terrorised by Extortion Gangs

Two men were shot and injured at a Somali-owned shop in Harare, Khayelitsha, in two separate incidents on Friday and Saturday.

• A man was shot dead and two other were shot and injured in three separate incidents in Khayelitsha on Friday and Saturday.
• This shootings appear to have been carried out by extortion gangs.
• Somali shop keepers GroundUp spoke to say that they are being extorted by competing gangs, and they are caught in the middle of the ensuing violence.
• In the face of police inaction, residents have been taking matters into their own hands; four suspected extortionists were killed a week ago on the Cape Flats.

Foreign shopkeepers in Cape Town live in fear of extortion gangs. On the weekend, three Somali shop owners were shot in three separate incidents in Harare, Khayelitsha. One died, and the two others were taken to Khayelitsha District Hospital.

Shopkeepers we spoke to said they pay thousands of rands a month to different extortion groups for protection that they never receive. Failure to pay, they say, leads to violence.

Harare Community Policing Forum chairperson Mthetho Mahamba said on Friday a Somali shop owner was shot and killed in Endlovini informal settlement. He said the motive is unclear, but it appears to be related to extortion gangs.

The second and third shootings took place at a shop in Harare 34 Section on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning. According to a family member, who we identify as K, two men were shot, but both survived and remain in hospital.

K said that two men entered the shop on Friday and shot one of the Somali shopkeepers inside.

Then on Saturday at about 7am, two different men arrived and shot another Somali shopkeeper standing at the door.

A video GroundUp has seen shows two men approaching the shop and immediately opening fire. No questions were asked. They shot the shopkeeper from outside through the burglar bars, five times. He managed to hide behind a door, and the men ran away.

Police spokesperson FC van Wyk confirmed the Saturday incident. He said police opened a case of attempted murder after a shooting at a premises in Hlonela Street, Harare, at 7:20am on Saturday.

Van Wyk said when police arrived, the victim had already been taken to hospital in a private vehicle. “He sustained a gunshot wound to his upper body while busy at the shop. The suspects were two unidentified males driving a white BMW,” he said.

Van Wyk said the motive is being investigated.

When GroundUp visited the shop, it was closed. K was sitting alone in his car outside.

He said there have been three attacks the past two months. He said the original owner of the shop was killed last month by unknown men.

“We are hurt and living in fear, but we cannot run away. We are Muslim. We are only praying that God protects us. At least my brothers are in stable condition now,” he said.

After speaking for only two minutes, he hurried away saying he was afraid for his safety.

Another Somali shop owner in Khayelitsha, who we identify as A, said that the number of extortion gangs is growing. He said some areas now have up to four gangs each demanding monthly protection fees.

He said each group has its own price, ranging from R1,500 to R3,500 a month.

“The sad reality is that we are on our own. No one is helping us,” he said. “We have people who were shot on their way to the police station after police called them for meetings. … We are not accusing anyone, but right now we do not trust the police at all.”

Mahamba claimed the number of shops owned by immigrants in Harare is higher than the number of police officers at the station.

“While the police do patrol, they cannot protect every shop,” he said.

Last week, GroundUp visited Somali shop owners in Bellville who also raised concerns about the growing number of extortion gangs in Khayelitsha.

One owner of a shop in Makhaza said he spends R15,000 each month paying different groups for protection, although he receives none.

He said shops used to pay R1,500 to a single gang, but now new groups have emerged demanding more money.

“These three new groups are demanding R4,500 to R5,000 from shop owners. If you don’t pay, you get killed,” he said.

“When we reported the emerging groups to the first group, they told us they couldn’t help but still [they kept] the money. The new groups are telling us not to pay the first groups; we must only pay them. We now find ourselves between a hard rock and a fire because we are going to be shot anyway,” he said.

The shopkeeper said many township shops now install cameras to record which gang collected money first, then show it to the other group.

“This is what causes them to kill each other. But the recent incidents in Harare worry us because now, instead of targeting each other, they are shooting at us as revenge,” he said.

While shopkeepers live in fear with little help, residents of Isiqalo informal settlement, Philippi, mete out vigilante justice to suspected extortionists.

Last week Saturday, residents set three men alight after they were accused of collecting protection fees at a local shop.

Residents we spoke to said a group of five extortionists began operating in the area four months ago. They were warned during the second month to stop, but they returned last month.

“On Saturday they collected money from shops and robbed people at gunpoint. A whistle was blown, and people came in numbers. They were beaten, two escaped, and three were killed,” a resident said.

The group of residents we spoke with said police were never called as they take too long to come. They said that police were failing to end extortion.

Another vigilante incident occurred in Mfuleni’s Burundi informal settlement, where a group of young men were caught robbing a house in the early hours of Saturday. One was caught and beaten to death.

Van Wyk confirmed both incidents.

He said in Burundi a man had been found with stab wounds to his upper body.

He said police in the Western Cape condemn vigilantism, following the deaths of four men in two separate incidents on Saturday, three in Isiqalo and one in Mfuleni.

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