Hundreds of residents have gathered at Mehlareng Stadium in Thembisa to march in protest against spaza shops operating in the area, as tensions escalate over ownership, regulation, and immigration.
The demonstration reflects growing community anger, with residents raising safety concerns about food handling and questioning why non-South African nationals are engaged in unskilled work in the country.
Speaking to the crowd, one community leader expressed deep frustration: “We cannot move in our country. We fear them. The crime, the drugs, everything they come from their country, they bring in our country. So we tired of them. Now enough is enough. Now is the time for South Africa to wake up and go forward.”
The leader also highlighted economic grievances, stating that foreign shop owners undercut local prices: “If I sell the bread 10 rand, the Pakistani will sell eight rand because they know they don’t mind about one rand. We are South African. We know we born here.”
When asked about the community’s plan of action, the leader said South Africa has “failed too much” and that foreign nationals “want to take their country.”
A representative from the Thembisa Parliament, identified only as No, acknowledged concerns about violence but said efforts are being made to maintain control. “There’s a lot of concerns whereby people are getting hurt, but I control this situation so that we can move forward, because we’ve had a lot of incidents where children die out of poisoning, food poisonings and all those things.”
No confirmed that community leaders have been in communication with the Ekurhuleni municipality regarding compliance issues, but noted that “the process is very slow because there are processes that need to be followed.”
Small groups of South African residents were observed moving from shop to shop, asking non-South African owners to close their businesses.