BY SETUMO STONE

AS CALM appeared to return to Diepsloot township in Gauteng on Thursday, following a violent attack on foreign shop owners, fresh violence broke out in the Eastern Cape township of Bethelsdorp.

Eastern Cape police said a Somali national who was stabbed on Thursday morning was taken to hospital in a critical condition. This followed a confrontation between residents and Somalis in which several shots were fired. No arrests were made.

The Bethelsdorp violence is likely to elevate fear of a repeat of the xenophobic violence that swept across South Africa in 2008.

Eastern Cape police provincial spokeswoman Brig Marinda Mills said there had been incidents of stone-throwing in the Bethelsdorp streets, with some roads blocked by burning tyres.

Brig Mills said residents claimed their protest was against “gangsterism”, but the attacks on Somalis and other foreign shop owners suggested there was a criminal element to the matter.

“It is difficult to tell. Their motives are not clear,” she said.

Other protests, said to be linked to a problem of “gangsterism”, continued on Thursday in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas. Police said the protests had started on Tuesday.

Brig Mills said the Eastern Cape did not have a high rate of gangsterism, except in the northern parts of Port Elizabeth among coloured communities. However, she said police were certain the Bethelsdorp incident was not related to the protests in northern areas.

Police in Gauteng said on Thursday the situation in Diepsloot was quiet following unrest that started on Sunday evening, sparking attacks on foreign shop owners and looting. Nine people were arrested during the turmoil.

Source: BDLive