Two Killed As South Africa Township Looting Spree Spreads

A general view of a looted grocery shop is seen in Kagiso, a township west of Johannesburg, South Africa, on January 23, 2015 ©Stefan Heunis (AFP)

Two men have been shot dead and shops owned by immigrants were looted in South Africa's biggest city, as unrest following the death of a teenager last week spread in Johannesburg townships, police said on Monday.

GRAPHITTI NEWS, citing AFP/Reuters reports, learned that the two men were killed in the Langlaagte township during a robbery at an immigrant-owned shop on Sunday, while another store was set ablaze and several others were looted, the South African police said on its Twitter feed.

Foreign-owned shops were looted last week across Soweto, a sprawling group of townships southwest of Johannesburg.

The unrest broke out after a 14-year-old boy, who residents say was trying to rob a shop in Soweto, was shot dead by a foreigner last Monday. So far, 178 suspects have been arrested, the police said.

Soweto Looting Spree Sends Foreign Shopkeepers Fleeing

Nazil Munssi stared at his ravaged hardware store near Soweto township with tears in his eyes, despondent and terrified after anti-foreign mobs went on a looting rampage this week in South Africa.

"They are targeting all the foreigners," said Munssi, an Indian national who has lived in South Africa for 26 years. "I don't think it's a safe place anymore. There is no law and order."

Nazil Munssi (C) surrounded by members of the South African Police Service squats in front of his looted shop on January 23, 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa ©Stefan Heunis (AFP)

With poverty and unemployment widespread, frustration in Johannesburg's run-down neighbourhoods often boils over into anti-immigrant violence.

In 2008 South Africa was hit by a wave of xenophobic violence that left 62 people dead.

The most recent looting spread to other townships west of Johannesburg, including Kagiso, where Munssi, the hardware store owner, has his shop. Inside his store bags of cement, tubs of paint and tools were strewn across the floor. "I have a good relationship with everyone here," said 43-year-old Munssi. "I'm feeling very badly."

On Thursday he locked up his store and left on the advice of the authorities. Moving the foreigners was easier than fighting off a mob, one police officer told AFP

"We won't stay and rebuild," Munssi said.

Mini grocery shops mainly run by Pakistanis, Somalis and Bangladeshis have cropped up in many South African townships, with the owners frequently accused of squeezing out small local businesses with cut-rate prices.

Around the corner from Munssi's shop, a group of Bangladeshi store owners loaded what was left of their stock -- bottles of Pepsi, sacks of maize meal and chocolate bars -- into a truck.

Earlier on Friday, a crowd of about 50 people had gathered in front of the store and threatened the staff before the police arrived and chased them off with rubber bullets.

"I was very scared, we were shaking," said Tshegofatso Mogalo, the 22-year-old store receptionist. She said the looters, many of them young men, were driven by nyaope, a street drug common in South Africa that is a mix of heroin and cannabis.

Provincial police Lieutenant General Lesetja Mothiba agreed, saying "Youth who are addicted to drugs, particularly nyaope, are taking advantage of this situation."

By Friday afternoon, 162 people had been arrested and some appeared in court on charges of possession of stolen goods and public violence.

President Jacob Zuma has condemned the violence, urging the police to restore order.

South Africa, with a population of about 50 million, is home to an estimated 5 million immigrants, some of whom are accused by local politicians and residents of taking jobs and services away from South Africans.

In 2008, more than 60 foreigners were killed in violence that analysts believe had its roots in tensions over a lack of jobs. South African unemployment is around 25 percent and youth joblessness is nearer 40 percent.