Mozambique: Mine halts activities following terrorist raid
Screen grab: Twitter/@DudulaMedia
Mozambican vendors in Soweto are being attacked and harassed by the radical South African anti-immigrant group which calls itself Operation Dudula. “Dudula” means to “force out” or “knock down” in isiZulu, and refers to the movement’s goal of expelling illegal migrants.
Attacks against Mozambican citizens have been registered since June in the Baragwanath Market in Soweto, a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa.
On Sunday and Monday of this week, Operation Dudula radicals stormed the market and vandalised the stalls of foreigners trading there, Mozambican Artur Chissano told Radio Mozambique.
“On Sunday, first it was the police who showed up, during the day, demanding identity documents from the sellers. Then came these from Dudula. They knocked our products off the stands, at the same time insulting us by saying that we have to return to our countries,” he said.
Mozambican sellers say they have suffered losses. One vendor, who wished to remain anonymous, says he lost 5,000 rand invested in his market stall.
This Wednesday, at least, members of the South African police were visibly patrolling the market area, but Mozambican vendor Alberto Guivale says that Dudula radicals attack again as soon as the authorities leave.
Faced with this uncertainty, vendor Vina calls for the Mozambican authorities to intervene.
“We are asking for support, sir. They promised to come back here on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Anybody can get shot or even killed, without us even knowing what wrong we have done here in South Africa. We don’t know if our authorities don’t attend for lack of knowledge, but we are asking for support, thank you so much my sir,” she said.
Operation Dudula was launched in mid-2021. Its members blame foreigners for the high unemployment and crime rates in South Africa.
Dudula is very active on social media and, in the video below posted on Twitter by’Dudula News’ , we can see vendors running while a man’s voice keeps shouting ‘Maputo, Maputo’ over and over again.
GATVOL SOUTH AFRICANS TAKE TO THE STREETS
After the coward @PresidencyZA @CyrilRamaphosa ran away from South Africans who marched to the Union Buildings last week, angry community members have decided to take it upon themselves and remove illegal foreigners across the country. pic.twitter.com/10SJq8Mzwu— Dudula News (@DudulaMedia) June 6, 2023
The greatest irony of the forced removals of Mozambican foreigners is that the owner of Jabulani Mall, Mike Nkuna, has ancestral roots in Mozambique. https://t.co/odJJEZSBF0
— The Outlier – (@tsonga_outlier) June 5, 2023
WATCH: Chaotic scenes at Jabulani Mall this morning, foreign traders being removed from paving and walkways they had occupied, and their illegal structures were set on fire. The operation was carried out by community members and some organisations.
Warning: Sensitive language pic.twitter.com/CZ02i62Rf5
— THE TRUTH PANTHER (@TheTruthPanther) June 5, 2023
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