“We are not racist and this was no xenophobic attack,” say community leaders of Witsand after Somali shop owners were ask to leave the area.

All Somali shops were closed by the community and local shop owners on Wednesday 31 March and were asked to leave the area within three hours.

The leaders said in an interview what happened on 31 March was a collective decision among all stakeholders within the Witsand community.

One leader, Zanenkosi Godongwana, said if this were xenophobia shops would have been looted and their owners removed violently.

The community decided in 2011 that Somali traders would not be allowed to trade in the area, yet recently there was an influx of Somalis, say community leaders. They lashed out at people who, they say, were misleading the community on social media, aside from online media reports, about police not intervening when shop owners are evicted.

“We went to the station and explained the scenario, and asked the police to be present,” Zanekosi explained, also stressing that nobody had lost anything and shop owners were helped by the community with packing-up their belongings and transporting them to the police station.

Mowliid Omar, a Somali shop owner, said a group of men threatened to loot his shop if he did not pack-up and go, and said police officers were present but failed to intervene. He said he had no choice but to hand the keys over to his landlord, and later recovered his stock at the police station where the local shop owners had dumped it.

Captain Lisa Munro, police spokesperson, confirmed Somali shop owners had been “ordered” to leave Witsand and intimidation cases were being investigated.