FERIAL HAFFAJEE: Xenophobia's wrong but so is the takeover of township economy
I live in Somalia. I've long suspected so, but had it confirmed over the Easter weekend when I was standing outside my house. An Indian (from India) and a Somali now resident in South Africa were struggling for parking at the annual fete in the area and, frustrated, neither was letting the other pass in the street, parked chock-a-block. The Indian man shouted at the Somali: "This is not Mogadishu!" The annoyed man retorted: "This, this here is Somalia." I was about to put my nose in the business and shout: "Actually, it's South Africa. Can you stop being arseholes and one let the other pass?" But I thought not to do so as Mayfair in Johannesburg is now largely foreign-run. There are parts where the urban landscape is so changed that you would swear you were in the Somali capital. The suburb rivals Nairobi's Eastleigh as a centre of Somali enterprise, a headquarters for refugees and exiles who have established entrepreneurial networks across the globe. The roads are rutted by the tru...
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