Eye Witness News
Malungelo Booi
Thursday, July 12, 2012
A Valhalla Park tuck shop. Picture: Malungelo Booi/EWN
CAPE TOWN - Some Valhalla Park residents on Wednesday lambasted police for not doing enough to stop attacks on Somali store owners in the area.
Locals blame power hungry gangsters after several shops were destroyed on Tuesday.
The Community Safety Department has demanded an immediate probe to determine whether police were lax.
There are claims officers stood by allowing the looting.
Blackened soil and rubble marked the stands where Somali-owned stores once stood along the main road in Valhalla Park.
Two police vehicles were patrolling the area, but locals seemed tense.
Some roamed the streets while others stood in their front yards keeping a close eye on their surroundings.
Eyewitness News found two Somali men who were still operating their businesses in a back street.
But when approached, they quickly emphasised they did not want to be interviewed.
Other residents said they suspected some drug lords and gangsters were pressurising owners to sell drugs in their shops.
A few said financial competition could be behind the attacks.