Somali shop owner's death 'not surprising'
18 September 2009, 11:05
By Mary-Anne Gontsana
Three suspects were behind bars after the body of a Somali shop owner was found dumped in an open field in the Khayelitsha area yesterday morning.
Mohammed Mohammed Abdi, 28, was off-loading stock at his store in Mfuleni when two gunmen opened fire and wounded him and the driver of the bakkie, police reported.
The men jumped into the vehicle and drove away with Abdi still on the back of the bakkie, but left the injured driver behind.
The men drove to a field just behind Ilitha Park in Mew Way and dumped the body in the long grass, barely hidden from the public.
Police spokesperson Andre Traut said: "Through our investigation after the shooting incident was reported, we managed to find out from community members in Khayelitsha where the body was."
By afternoon, the body was still lying there, covered with a cloth with the victim's shoes next to it.
Abdi Ahmed Aden, of the Somali Association of South Africa (Sassa) and a close friend of Abdi, said: "The body has been lying there since 10am. We do not know what is taking the morgue van so long."
He said he was "terribly pained" at the killing as Abdi was a good man just earning a living. He added, though, that he was not surprised that another Somali had lost his life.
"Last week, a similar situation took place in Delft, where a shop owner was shot dead after a robbery," Aden said.
Another Somali man called the shooting "inhuman". "Even the community members in Mfuleni who knew Abdi feel the same way. We are scared beyond capacity," he said.
The suspects, aged 18 to 23, were found via a tracking device on the bakkie. They were cleaning the blood from the vehicle when they were caught.
They are being detained on charges of murder, attempted murder and robbery.
Meanwhile, the Somalis who were threatened with being set alight by local residents if they did not move out of Blikkiesdorp in Delft, fear for their lives.
A Somali women said that, despite her fear, she was happy the police kept them safe.
She added: "I still don't go out of my house, and I always make sure my children are inside. I want to go back home."
She said no word had come from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees about sending them home.
Their lawyer, William Kerfoot, was unavailable for comment about the steps being taken to help the refugees.
We should all support the gov't regardless of where they hail from. In that case we will reach a democracy in which we can elect the appropriate officials into the power.
