KRAAIFONTEIN, CAPE TOWN — Streets normally bustling with informal trade fell eerily silent Thursday morning as vendors remained hidden following a violent protest by hundreds of school pupils the previous day.
Gavin Riddles, a local spokesperson, described the sudden escalation: “Yesterday it was like a normal Wednesday… this area was full of informal traders.” He said that around 8:00–9:00 AM Wednesday, approximately 800 to 900 learners from local entered the streets. What began as a peaceful march—a constitutional right—quickly turned chaotic when participants, armed with sticks and pieces of metal, began intimidating informal traders and damaging property.
Riddles noted that roughly 382 informal traders operate in the area. Many, particularly women who sell fruit and daily goods, did not return Thursday. “They said they too scared because yesterday there was damage to their goods and to their merchandise,” he said. “That is a total sense of fear. People fear for their lives.”
A local resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, echoed these concerns. “Even us we are scared,” the resident said. “I feel like if I get money I going to go home safely because you don’t know how this matter is going to end.” The resident voiced suspicion that adults may be influencing the students: “I think the kids can’t come out to say we are going to the streets. There’s someone behind those kids.”
One informal trader recounted significant losses: “We lost a lot of stuff yesterday because the way kids… come from nowhere, they start taking away stuff.” The trader added that without sales, wages cannot be paid, and expressed a broader plea regarding safety and xenophobia: “If they saying that xenophobia, what try to stop them so that if there’s something that we can do at least let people to go out from this country easy without hating them, killing each other, fighting each other.”
Riddles emphasized that the incident constitutes criminal activity, not merely a disciplinary issue. “This is urban terror. This is public violence. So they must face the full consequences of the law,” he stated. He also warned that criminal elements may have exploited the situation: “It was also the elements that exploited and benefited from this,” filtering in among the learners.
As of Thursday morning, Kraaifontein’s informal trading zones remained largely deserted, with vendors and residents awaiting assurances of safety before resuming daily commerce.
