Life in Masi has been tense over the past few days.
On Thursday night we received calls from friends who live there and were hearing about the spread of xenophobic attitudes in the township. One had attended a gathering of South Africans who determined to exert their nationalism. They were pitching money towards the petrol they would use to burn the houses of foreigners. My friend, who is Zimbabwean, kept quiet so that no one would know he was foreign.
Somalian shop owners were told by their customers that they would be returning later to loot their stores.
That night we drove in to pick up two of our friends, one Zimbabwean, one Nigerian. The streets were lined with people and police cars. Some were waiting for their bosses to collect them. Others were plotting violence, waiting for an opportunity to loot, steal, and inflict pain. Somalians, fearing for their lives, abandoned their businesses to looters.
Friday morning the police informed us that they had maintained peace during the night, “no one has been hurt.”
At the hospital we heard otherwise, “we had people in with knife and axe wounds.”
We went in search of Abdul and Maria, two friends of ours, and found a mass of their Somalian countrymen stranded outside Ocean View Police Station. “Now you see what I was talking about. You have to inform the international community of the way that our people are being treated,” said Abdi, a 60 year old Somalian man who had spent the night outside.
A church in Ocean View (the neighbouring township) who had opened their building as a haven for those fleeing Masi were upset to find Ocean View residents protesting outside. “We don’t want these people here,” they were told. Police had to intervene to stop the violence.
Our team has been trying to connect with the foreigners in Masi that we have relationships with. Around twenty five of the ones we could find are now staying at our various homes while we wait for the violence to stop.
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