Somali attacks: Xenophobic or business rivalry?

By Lydia Langeni
20 September 2006

Debate continues in the Western Cape about the reasons behind the attacks on Somali's. Are the motives xenophobic or robbery?

Forty-year-old Yusuf Abdille was the 12th Somalian to be murdered this year. Fellow Somalians say that he was attacked by three men at his shop in Delft South.

Police believe that this attack was a random robbery, but the Somalians maintain that it was an act of xenophobia. Somalians are furious as these attacks affect their business, communities and more importantly, their trust in South Africans.

Western Cape premier Ebraim Rasool has confirmed that nine arrests have been made on counts of public violence against Somalis. Rasool agrees with the police and says that these attacks should be seen as economically motivated and not as xenophobic acts.