Calm returns to Winburg after residents close foreign-owned shops

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Calm has returned in Winburg, Free State, where residents have closed down shops owned by foreign nationals.

Residents went on the rampage on Wednesday night after shop owners closed down shops to avoid being inspected. They insist that shops owned by foreign nationals, who locked their establishments during inspections by authorities, should remain closed.

Government officials from various departments inspected shops suspected of selling expired goods. The officials confiscated expired and illicit goods.

Residents say shop owners should first explain why they evaded the inspection.

One resident says, “The meeting was held there at the community library. The police were there even the members of the community were there. By the time they took their stock from the shops, they were protected by the police. That’s why I say they left peacefully there was no violence at all so the community.”

“We do not have a problem with the shop owners, but we have a problem with them closing down their shops to avoid inspection. We appreciate them because they do what we cannot do and they service us well,” another resident adds.

Other residents say they have already started to feel the absence of the services of closed local shops.  “I think the officials confiscated more than they were supposed to. And now these people are gone and we do not have anywhere to shop here in the location. We now have to go to town to get what we need.”

Another resident says he has warned a shop owner renting in his yard to stop selling expired goods.

“I once bought a cake from the one selling from my yard and I found that it was expired and even had bread mold inside and I had to warn him to stop selling that because it was not good for anyone,” laments a resident Cheyeko Mafallisa.

Shop owners declined to be interviewed. They have also moved their goods to a warehouse in town.