Operation Dudula tried to use the shooting of a young man in Soweto, allegedly by a migrant shopkeeper, to close foreign-owned shops. Many people in White City didn’t take the bait.
There are conflicting versions of the events leading up to the shooting of 22-year-old Lusanda Ngcobo at a spaza shop in White City, Soweto, on 7 August 2024.
In one version, he was simply buying a cold drink on his way home from work and was shot by a migrant shopkeeper for loitering around the store. In the other, he was drunk and abusive and pulled out a knife when asked to pay for a cold drink before the shopkeeper retrieved a gun and shot him.
While the police are still investigating, the shooting ignited anti-migrant sentiment in White City and led to calls to close foreign-owned spaza shops, while South African property owners were pressured to stop leasing to migrants.
The situation, one of the latest in the ongoing environment of populist anti-migrant rhetoric during a law and order crisis and the failure of the Home Affairs Department to effectively manage immigration, underscores the socio-economic challenges and complex dynamics within township economies.
Shooting in White City
According to Victor Nkosi, a member of the White City Committee on Safety, which was established by the community, Ngcobo walked…
