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Angry crowd disrupts Somali meeting
30 January 2008, 12:08
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What was meant to be the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected chairperson of the Somali Community Board of the Western Cape ended in a confrontation after members of the audience slammed the election process as "undemocratic".
On Tuesday night, about 250 Somalis met at the Bellville Civic Centre to discuss what organisers termed the "unity of Somalis living in the province and the election of board members".
Members of the audience, however, claimed that they had been duped and had been told that the aim of the meeting was to elect a chairperson.
The group disrupted proceedings when they shouted that they were not involved in the election of chairperson Abdi Jidow.
"Who elected him? Why were we not involved in the process?" said one irate person.
A group of men who said they belonged to the Somali Bantu community then got on stage, wearing Somali Bantu T-shirts and waving the Somali flag, and called on the audience to reject Jidow on the grounds that the Somali Nomadics are oppressing them.
"In Somalia the Somali Nomadics rape, murder and kidnap the Somali Bantus.
"They oppress us; starve us from higher education and political rights.
"We experienced that in Somalia and ran away from it and now they want to oppress us again in a democratic South Africa," said Abdul Abdulahigwure.
Jidow was elected 10 days ago after the slaying of Somali shopkeeper Mohammed Ali in his Sir Lowry's Pass Superette. Ali, 27, was gunned down in the latest incident of alleged xenophobic attacks against the immigrant community which has seen 41 Somali spaza shop owners killed since last year.
"This is the first time that we are trying to have an umbrella body to help the plight of the Somalis but it can't be done if leaders are self elected," said Mitchells Plain resident Ahmed Puhir.
Ward councillor Jeffrey van Wyk, People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty leader Braam Hanekom and the Bellville police station commissioner, who were scheduled to speak, left shortly after the disruptions.
Police officers later arrived on the scene to calm the angry crowd who later dispersed.
After the event, organiser Ali Noor said the board would ignore the "disruptive elements".
He said the representative body had not misled the public. "We invited them saying that we needed to elect the board and that the chairperson was already elected."
The body would retain Jidow as chairperson and would reconvene a meeting to elect Board members, he concluded.
