Khairat Dima, a fourth-generation South African Indian, says that his grocery store in the city center of Durban city was completely looted in recent violence. "The robbers emptied my store and ransacked before leaving," he told.
The bailout lamented that "many people lost their merchandise from their shops." Many of those whose shops were looted or set on fire or whose homes were set ablaze were rich people of Indian origin, making the community feel that they were the target of violence.
In the past, social media was flooded with videos and pictures of violence in South Africa, in which people are seen either looting or burning shops, malls, homes and trucks. Now the period of violence has subsided as about 25,000 soldiers have been deployed in the affected areas which have brought the violence under control, but there is still fear among the people of Indian origin.
Shamin Thakur-Rajbansi of the Minority Front Party is an elected member of the Legislative Assembly of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Speaking to BBC from Durban, she said, "I can tell you that right now every community is living in fear. Obviously, when the violence was at its peak, there was a lot of fear in the Indian community because it is a natural thing. "
The center of this violence was the coastal city of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. This is the city of Durban where Mahatma Gandhi was coming from India in 1893. Gandhi later set up his ashram in the nearby city of Phoenix, which has been badly affected by the recent violence. The largest number of people of Indian origin live outside India in a city Durban. After the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma, 117 people were also killed in violence that erupted in several cities of South Africa.
People of Indian origin constitute only two and a half percent of the country's population, but most of them are engaged in business and are wealthy. The extent of the damage done to them is yet to be fully ascertained, but looting and ransacking has broken the economic back of the community.
Lubna Nadvi, an educational and political analyst in Durban, told- "In the time of apartheid, certain Indian townships were settled. In some Indian townships, such as Phoenix, the damage that has happened is to the Indian people because there are mostly Indians, but there are large industrial and economic areas where everyone has suffered."
An Indian company named Registration Brothers has five branches out of which four were looted. Its owner told the media that he saw one of his shops robbed and completely collapsed on live TV. After this, the shops next to their relatives were looted and burnt.
Shamin Thakur-Rajbansi, an Indian-origin legislator, says, "The picture is that businesses were attacked indiscriminately and many businesses and homes were attacked in East Indian regions". According to Lubna Nadvi, food was not available in the house for a few days as food supply trucks were set on fire and small bread-milk shops were also destroyed.
The general opinion is that all communities came under the grip of violence in the initial days, but in subsequent attacks, the properties of Indians were targeted. Shamin Thakur-Rajbansi seems to agree, "Initially there were no direct attacks on the Indian community. But an atmosphere of anarchy spread to the residential areas, thus creating racial tensions, although there was no racial tension earlier. "
Lubna Nadvi believes that the Indian community was not deliberately targeted. "This attack was against the government of the African National Congress (ANC) here, it was violence against President Cyril Ramaphosa."
South Africa is said to be a Rainbow Nation where people of many communities and ethnicities are populated. After release from prison, Nelson Mandela insisted on living in peace and reconciliation. South Africa became a democracy for the first time in 1994, and since then efforts are being made to make all communities inhabited by mixed populations and mixed neighbourhoods. Much success has been achieved in this, but still the mission of national integration has not been completed.
People of Indian origin constitute only 2.5 percent of the population. The number of people of white race is nine percent. Leaders of this race ruled South Africa for decades. 80 percent of the local black race people live in this country. But black people in South Africa allege that people of Indian origin are racially discriminating against them.
The Indian community's relations with the black race are generally good, but internally, social tensions between the two communities have been going on for years, once manifested in the violence of 1949 and the second time during the violence of 1985. But then South Africa was under governments of apartheid white race leaders.
In 1994, South Africa became a democratic country under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, who emphasized on fostering harmony with all communities. But the violence that is happening today has never happened in the last 25 years.
The common belief among black people is that Indians are racists. Cezve Biko, a journalist in the town of Sowto, near Johannesburg, says that racial tensions are a ticking time bomb. In a conversation with Sowto, he said, "They (Indian origin People) say they are black when they have the political advantage and when they need to be counted with the white race they easily turn against us."
Biko has many friends of Indian origin and insists that he is not against the Indian community, but according to him the fact is that "he considers himself to be somewhat superior to us and equal to the whites".
Biko is not surprised at this behaviour of people of Indian origin as he says, "The way they treat each other behind closed doors because of the cast system is even worse. We are not surprised by this attitude."
Shamin Thakur-Rajbansi says that there are discrimination in every community. "We must accept the truth that this is a real perception among the black race about Indians, but there is also a belief in the Indian community that black people are racist. But let me tell you that racism is in all groups."
She adds, "Historically there has been tension between communities, which was reflected in 1949 and 1985, but remember that these incidents happened under oppressive regimes. We are a democracy now. After democracy, the last 27 years Since then the Indian community and the African community are living together and they are living in peace and harmony."
Lubna Nadvi says that only a few people in the Indian community are racist. "There are minority people in the Indian community who will be racist, as in every community there are people who consider themselves superior to others and try to make others look down, but most of the Indians living here are South Africans with other communities. live together."
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