Kenyan businessman in South Africa: 'They looted everything'

A Kenyan investor affected by the xenophobic attacks in South Africa has come out to talk about his ordeal.

Mr John Thumbi, who until a few days ago owned a retail clothing store along Jules Street in Johannesburg, said he ventured in business in South Africa in 2006.

For more than a decade, all was well. He had customers and the investment thrived. But now, he has nothing.

His business was looted and burned down by rioters early this week in wave of madness that rocked part of Johannesburg.

“They have looted everything... This used to be my shop… It was around 8 o’clock last night when they came here and started looting,” Mr Thumbi narrates in a video post, showing the charred shell of what was once his thriving clothing store.

“We did not see the government (of South Africa) coming to help us or telling us what we are going to do.”

DISAPPOINTMENT

He is among several Kenyans the Foreign Affairs ministry said were affected by the attacks.

Other Kenyans, Kenyan High Commissioner to South Africa Jean Kamau said, were physically assaulted and their businesses looted and burnt in Gauteng Province, which include Jo’burg.

Mr Thumbi expressed disappointment with the South African government, which, he said did not step in to quell the violence.

“The government must come to see the mess that is here,” he says.

“We have not seen them since morning and now it is 10 o’clock and no one has come to tell us which direction we must follow. People are still looting even at Shoprite, they are still looting.”

COMPENSATION

He explained that he has children and he was hopeless as he did not know where to turn to for help.

He asked for compensation to make up for the loss that he and his family have suffered due to the xenophobic attacks.

“If they want us to go home, then they must tell us to go. They must give us what we came to invest here, because we have invested a lot here,” Mr Thumbi said dejectedly.

REACTIONS

The South African attacks on foreigners has caused tension all over Africa, with Nigeria even issuing a travel advisory to its citizens against visiting the troubled areas.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama said that the violence against fellow Africans was uncalled for, especially since the targets of the violence are from countries that helped South Africa in the fight against apartheid in the early 1990s.

Sporadic violence against foreign-owned stores and enterprises has a long history in South Africa, where many locals blame immigrants for high unemployment.

The attacks have mainly taken place in large cities, but they have also been reported in smaller towns and rural areas.