East London, March 5, 2009 – ANDILE Tunzana has the blood of four Somalis on his hands and, as he sits in Mdantsane Prison serving two life sentences, he has finally told why he killed.
“We knew they had a lot of money in their shops and had no guns to fight back,” said Tunzana, 26, who is doing hard time for the killing of Somali refugees around East London.
“We shot those who tried to resist and then looked for money. No one cared for them in the township because they are grigambas.”
Tunzana’s story confirms how South African government policy predisposes Somali refugees to become victims in a country which they hoped would offer sanctuary.
Since his conviction by the East London High Court in 2006 Tunzana says he has converted to Islam – the religion of his victims – and adopted the name Ismael Junaid.
It was his conversion that led to him agreeing to his jail interviews with the Daily Dispatch. We conducted hours of interviews with him as part of a four-month investigation into the killing of Somalis in our community. We lived with Somalis to understand the hatred directed at them; we spoke to police who investigated the cases, and to witnesses, survivors and independent experts.
We were also present when corrupt Home Affairs officials took bribes from refugees desperate to renew their permits.
The picture that has emerged is clear: Somalis become victims of crime because of State policy which provides them with limited legal protection, does not allow them to live a normal life or have access to institutions like banks. They are left vulnerable to be preyed on by criminals and corrupt officials in communities that reject them.
At the time of the murders in 2005, Tunzana was on the run, having escaped from custody while awaiting trial on another murder charge. He and his accomplices robbed and murdered Mohammed Nasier Omar and Mahamud Abdi Mohammed at their spaza shop in Mzamo Street, Duncan Village, on July 5, 2005.
Earlier, he had shot and wounded Mohammed Ismail in a thigh and Mashafa Muhammed in the jaw at their Mtendeni Street, Duncan Village, spaza shop, and shot and wounded Daniel Dala, a security guard at a Somali-owned shop in Lamont Street at CC Lloyd Township.

Tunzana admitted in his interviews with the Dispatch that the Somali spaza shops were easy targets.
“We got information that the amagrigamba were not banking their money and, instead, were hiding it in their shops. They were easy to rob because they did not resist much and there was no one to protect them.”
Tunzana said they planned their attacks around the Somalis’ prayer times; Muslims worship five times a day. The gang knew that while other Somalis went to the mosque to pray there would be only one shopkeeper, which made robberies easy.
“We knew they were the only ones who had a lot of money and were easy to rob in the township. I did not care much about robbing any other person who looks like me because I know that they might be struggling to survive. The Somalis were just other foreign people with money and no one cared about them.”
Tunzana said on the day of their rampage they had told themselves they were going to get rid of Somalis. “Ta Ero (Eric Nanto, his accomplice) said let’s kill these things (Somalis) today and get rid of them. They come here to take our women and behave like this is their country,” said Tunzana.
They showed no mercy.
Buzani Nkunzana, an eye-witness to the robbery and shooting of Ismail and Muhammed, recalled what happened after Tunzana and his three accomplices stormed the spaza on the afternoon of July 5, 2005.
Nkunzana, an electrician, was with Ismail and Mohammed in their bedroom trying to fix their VCR when they heard a big bang. “I got a shock,” he said. “I heard people shouting and demanding money from the Somalis on the other side. I then saw the two Somalis walking backwards to the room and a person was pointing a gun at them.”
Nkunzana saw the Somalis gunned down.
One of the robbers fired a shot which hit Mohammed and he immediately fell to the floor.
He thinks they shot him because his lighter skin gave him away as a foreigner.
“I just went on the floor next to one of the Somalis and there was just a pool of blood coming from him. I thought this must be my last day alive. I was scared that I was going to die.”
But he escaped their attention.
Afterwards, Nkunzana followed the gang from the house and saw people scattering in the street, some screaming, as Tunzana and his gang strolled down the road.
“They were not even running or trying to hide ... they just walked,” Nkunzana said.
Tunzana told the Dispatch he could not really remember what happened but acknowledges he shot people.
“I remember at one of the shops the amagrigamba tried to shoot me but their guns jammed,” he said. “They ran away and I shot at them, but they did not die.”
Tunzana said, despite his conversion to Islam, his feelings about his crimes remained ambiguous. At times during the interviews he would claim not to have hated his victims. But then he would refer to them using the derogatory amagrigamba term.
At first, he blamed alcohol and evil spirits for attacking the Somalis, but in a later interview he admitted he killed because of greed and because he thought he could get away with it because they were foreigners.
“All we wanted was more money for us and it was easy to get it from their shops and do whatever we wanted. I had also managed to avoid police for a long time so I believed that there was no way we could be arrested because these were just amagrigamba.”
Tunzana said also his new faith had compelled him to tell the truth: “According to Islam, one must confess all his sins and tell the truth. It was right for me to confess to the killings and for God to forgive me.
“If I had taken up Islam before, I would not have robbed and killed my brothers. I hope for forgiveness now.”
But Abdullahi Adbi Sheikh, the brother of one victim, Mahamud Abdi Mohammed, is not convinced that Tunzana has converted and does not think he can “I am a Muslim,” he said, “but after all the pain we went through how can we be expected to give out our hand to the person who did us wrong?
“For me … I cannot forgive anybody. God forgives.” - By THANDUXOLO JIKA
• A project made possible thanks to the Taco Kuiper Fund for Investigative Journalism at Wits University
 

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