Chinese shops now also being looted in PE townships

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The looting of foreign-owned spaza shops in Port Elizabeth continued into a third day on Tuesday.

For the first time, a Chinese-owned shop was targeted and destroyed in Kwamagaxe.

Initially, it was Somali-owned shops that were plundered after a Somalian allegedly shot and killed a 19-year-old man following an argument over air-time in New Brighton on Saturday night.

Charges against the Somalian were provisionally withdrawn in the PE Magistrate's court on Tuesday.

Provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Marinda Mills, says police are maintaining a strong presence in Nelson Mandela Bay's troubled township areas.

"Our arrest tally has gone up to 111 people and we will continue to arrest perpetrators who are looting and we will continue to engage with the community to find a solution to the problem. Not only to assist those left without homes or their basic needs that they have but we will also engage them to find a solution to this problem" she said.