I need urgent help, says Nigerian mechanic who lost ‘N240m worth of cars’ in South Africa

Simon Adeoye, a Nigerian automobile mechanic based in South Africa, on Tuesday said he lost N240.650m (R10m) worth of cars in the recent Xenophobic attack.

Speaking with NAN on telephone from Pretoria, South Africa, Adeoye said some of the cars belonged to South Africans, while others were being repaired for sale.

He explained that on the day of the incident, he got a call that his workshop had been set ablaze, and he rushed to the place to see what was left of the place.

“By the time I got there, 29 cars of different make, some Nigerian passports, documents of the workshop, money and other personal effects had been destroyed by fire,” he said.

“I was helpless and could not do anything… I appeal to the federal government to assist me get back to business. Officials of the Nigerian mission have visited the workshop to do an assessment and we are yet to hear from them.

“At the moment, I have lost everything I have. I need urgent help to re-start my business. This will also assist me pay my workers who have families to carter for.”

He appealed to the mission to provide replacement for the passports gutted by fire to enable affected Nigerians have documents.

Meanwhile, Mathapelo Peters, spokeswoman of South African, said at least 20 shops possibly belonging to immigrants, were looted in the country’s capital overnight.

Peters said the motive for the latest attacks were unknown, and no deaths had been reported.

“There are allegations that these shops belong to foreign nationals,” she said.

“It is alleged that the community members are saying that these shops were used for drug dealing but that is unconfirmed.

“We will only be able to start a formal investigation once the shop owners come forward.”

The Atteridgeville neighbourhood, where the looting took place, was calm on Tuesday as police cars drove through the streets.

An unemployed man in his mid-twenties, who declined to be named, said: “we are sick and tired of foreigners who are coming to sell drugs and kill our people, we can’t let the community go down like this.”

South Africa, with a population of about 50 million, is home to an estimated 5 million immigrants.

In 2008, at least 67 people were killed in anti-immigrant violence, with thousands of people fleeing to refugee camps.