Police are investigating a shooting incident that left one person dead and four others wounded, following clashes with suspected cable thieves at Kliptown in Soweto, west of Johannesburg.
It is alleged residents, comprising mostly of members of Operation Dudula, were involved in an altercation with the suspects when the shooting happened.
They were taking part in a protest march to Chicken Farm informal settlement when they were allegedly shot at by people armed with AK47s.
Police Spokesperson Brenda Muridili says they’re monitoring the situation.
“There was an altercation with the residents as they were complaining about cable theft that causes power outages. Shots were fired and one person was confirmed dead and another taken to hospital. There are also reports that four more people were shot and injured but we are following on that information.”
Earlier this month, South African Communist Party’s Deputy General-Secretary, Solly Mapaila, strongly condemned the activities of civil movement Operation Dudula, saying they display elements of vigilantism.
He said attacks on foreign nationals should be condemned and not tolerated.
Mapaila was speaking at the ninth provincial congress of the SACP in the North West held at Stilfontein, near Klerksdorp.
Mapaila’s comments, came as some parts of the country were experiencing violence and killings of foreign nationals. He said, at the time, the search of people’s houses without permission was unlawful and must be condemned.
“It’s also important to emphasise, particularly South Africans, that we are Africans first and foremost. There is no African who is a foreigner in Africa. You can never be a foreigner in your own continent. Europeans don’t treat themselves like that. We hate ourselves as Africans and this thing is tearing you apart to think that our people see somebody on the basis of their nationality or language from this continent in particular or from any part of the world as an enemy. There is no human being that should be an enemy of another human being.”
