Diepkloof residents in Soweto are divided over the eviction of foreigners who are staying and operating businesses in the area.
This after Operation Dudula embarked on an operation to shut down all spaza shops owned by foreigners on Thursday.
The operation was expected to be conducted in conjunction with the SA Police Service, metro police, immigration services, and environmental health.
However, only a contingent of SAPS vans was visible during the operation.
Throngs of people who took part in the operation, which started just before midday, managed to confiscate fake and expired food products from the spaza shops.
These were later set alight in full view of the community, some disapproving.
Landlords worried by evictions
After shutting down one of the spaza shops in the area, a landlord in the yard, Mpotso Manyama, told Sunday World that his life would take an “unexpected turn towards hunger”.
This because Manyama said he financially depended on payment he received from renting out the shop space to foreigners.
He said he prefers to hire out the shop space to foreigners because they are never late with payment or try to negotiate down the amount to pay for renting the shop space.
Manyama said he often buys some products from the spaza shop in his yard, noting that he always checks the expiry date of the products, because he is aware are of the rumours that foreigners sell expired food products.
He let his guard down when he realised that he has never found an expired product sold from the shop yard, and was devastated to see some of the products being burnt.
“I don’t know how I will survive because I looked forward to their payment each month. That helped me put food on the table and pay rent to the municipality,” he said.
“Now we [the family] have to find another way to survive.”
He said members of Operation Dudula and the people who took part in the operation have promised to fund him to start a spaza shop of his own.
However, he does not know when this will happen. “They might forget about me as soon as they leave the area,” he said.
Manyama’s tenant confirmed that he has no legal documents to be in the country, adding that he is also not registered to run a business.
Another landlord, Mageza Radebe, who was defending his foreign tenant, claimed that foreigners are better at respecting agreements, especially when operating a business from someone else’s house.
He ordered the crowd to get out of his yard, insisting that attempting to shut down spaza shops is unnecessary.
Radebe said: “They [spaza shops] are scattered everywhere, [they are in] every corner of the township.
“I need you all to leave, take what you want and leave. Don’t even burn them [suspected expired food products] near my house.”
Some of the expired products included soda drinks, pads, mealie meal, sugar, and biscuits.
Thabo Ngayo, Operation Dudula’s national coordinator, said the organisation will not rest until the spaza shops are owned and operated by South Africans.
He said at least five children have since been identified to have died after consuming snacks bought from the spaza shops, noting that no one else should die anymore.
“These people tell us that they came to the country to find jobs, however, they are busy manufacturing fake products that are killing our nation. We cannot stand this,” Ngayo said.
