![]() ![]() Although he reported all of the robberies, no arrests have been made. During one incident in 2012, his brother was shot and killed. Wehliye said his shop had been robbed seven times since it opened in 2010. "I lost everything I had to start over," he told IRIN as he served customers through a metal grill, a security precaution that has done little to protect him from crime. ![]() Like many other Somali traders in Philippi, Abdullahi Wehliye, 28, opened a shop there after losing his shop in neighbouring Khayelitsha Township during the 2008 xenophobic violence. Most of the violence has been directed at Somali refugees who run many of the small grocery stores known as 'spaza' shops in the township. ![]() "Generally, people are happy to live side-by-side the problem starts when it comes to business," he told IRIN. In an area where nearly 60 percent of residents are unemployed, according to census data, Ward Counsellor Thobile Gqola, estimated that foreign nationals run more than half of businesses. Philippi Township, 25km southeast of Cape Town, has been a hotspot for xenophobic violence in Western Cape Province post-2008. In a statement released on 13 May, CoRMSA concluded that "much more still needs to be done to promote peaceful communities". The looting and victimization of foreigners has also remained a feature of the frequent service delivery protests that have rocked South African townships in recent years, as has the near impunity of perpetrators. On average, one person was killed every week in 2011, according to the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA). But while no further outbreaks have occurred on the scale of the violence five years ago, attacks on foreign nationals have continued. ![]() Since May 2008, various initiatives have been established to detect early warning signs of future xenophobic attacks and to improve responses. PHILIPPI, (IRIN) - This week marks five years since tensions between foreigners and South Africans living in impoverished communities across the country erupted in xenophobic violence, leaving more than 60 people dead and tens of thousands displaced, their homes and businesses robbed and abandoned. ![]()
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