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In the Durban CBD, foreign national battered to death · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: 702 Drive. Let's focus our attention now in Durban. A
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: terrible incident this morning in the course of anti-illegal immigration marches.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Police are saying that a man, a foreign national, was
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: beaten to death this morning in Durban's CBD. This is
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: coming from KZN police spokesperson, Colonel Robert Nechiunda. To find
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: out what's happened, what we know about the victim and
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  Speaker 1: whether the police are making any headway in investigating this,
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  Speaker 1: we welcome News24 journalist, Sakiseni Nomalo, who has been on
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the scene out in the Durban CBD throughout the day. Sakiseni,
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  Speaker 1: good afternoon to you and thanks very much for giving
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  Speaker 1: us your time. Firstly, the person murdered in this way,
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  Speaker 1: do we know anything about them?
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  Speaker 2: Good afternoon and also to our listeners. Now, at this stage,
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  Speaker 2: we're still trying to ascertain further details about the foreign nationals.
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  Speaker 2: What we know for now is that he is from Uganda,
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  Speaker 2: but we haven't been able to ascertain. Obviously, now the
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  Speaker 2: difficult part is locating the family, obviously, because he's a
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  Speaker 2: foreign national. Secondly, there aren't no foreign nationals anymore along
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  Speaker 2: the street, so it's very difficult to pinpoint the It's
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  Speaker 2: the relative linked to the man, but we know that
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  Speaker 2: he was beaten to death and he had certain injuries
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  Speaker 2: on the head, according to the report from the police.
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  Speaker 2: And then he was then taken to the mortuary in Phoenix.
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  Speaker 2: So we're still trying to get further details, but there
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  Speaker 2: has been a match taking place and kind of cooled
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  Speaker 2: down a bit. But now the numbers are actually recruiting,
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  Speaker 2: as you speak.
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  Speaker 1: So, Sakiseni, were the police on the scene when this
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  Speaker 1: murder took place? And if they were, did they attempt
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  Speaker 1: to intervene in any way?
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  Speaker 2: What we know for now, according to the KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson,
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  Speaker 2: is that there was about 50 groups that were actually marching,
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  Speaker 2: protesting early this morning. And apparently two people from the
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  Speaker 2: groups Then diverted to chase these foreigners. They were actually
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  Speaker 2: picked up by a CCTV footage where they diverted and
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  Speaker 2: attacked the men. That's when the police were able to
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  Speaker 2: pick her up from there and then responded to the scene.
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  Speaker 1: My understanding is that there are some shops owned by
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  Speaker 1: foreign nationals in the area. Do we know if the
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  Speaker 1: murdered man was a trader of any kind? Any indication
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  Speaker 1: as to when he was in the area, was he
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  Speaker 1: engaged with his business? Was he walking somewhere? Any clarity
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  Speaker 1: on that?
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  Speaker 2: The police actually haven't provided any clarity to us. And
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  Speaker 2: like I said, the difficult part now is actually... getting
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  Speaker 2: further details because you understand that along the road in
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  Speaker 2: the CBD, especially those shops that are owned by foreign
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  Speaker 2: nationals are actually closed. So it's quite difficult to go
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  Speaker 2: in and question the doors. It would have been easy
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  Speaker 2: if the doors were open. They would have told us,
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  Speaker 2: we know this person, he's so-and-so. But now it's quite difficult. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: they're still scared following this incident. A lot of the
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  Speaker 2: foreign nationals shops are actually closed along the CPT area.
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  Speaker 2: There are quite a few shops that are open, and
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  Speaker 2: those that are open are not foreign nationals. But what
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  Speaker 2: we have been able to find out from the police
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  Speaker 2: sources is that the guy was actually from Uganda, and
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  Speaker 2: he was working, not owning, but working at the shop.
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  Speaker 1: Saki Sendi, are there marches still going on now? I
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  Speaker 1: had read somewhere that there was a march called for
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  Speaker 1: five o'clock today. What is realistically going to happen in
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  Speaker 1: the Durban CBD over the next four or five hours?
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, it's another convoy. Yesterday, we had a convoy at three,
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  Speaker 2: which had e-hailing drivers and also some motorbikes. and also
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  Speaker 2: about 500 of the march members that went around the city,
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  Speaker 2: bringing the city to a standstill. And also we're anticipating
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  Speaker 2: the very same thing today. The army is also on
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  Speaker 2: the ground and also accompanying the group. And also today
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  Speaker 2: is a motorbike starting at five. Obviously, whenever this process starts,
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  Speaker 2: it starts in small numbers and virtually escalates in terms
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  Speaker 2: of the numbers grow and that's when, in most cases,
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  Speaker 2: they become volatile. We saw an incident yesterday, we saw
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  Speaker 2: it in the footage, where a man, believe it or not,
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  Speaker 2: was also attacked and ended up in hospital. So we
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  Speaker 2: could actually see the very same thing today, depending on
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  Speaker 2: how the police would be able to delegate.
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  Speaker 1: And just finally, I mean, the march organisers, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if there is a single organiser of these marches
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  Speaker 1: that are taking place in the Durban CBD area, What,
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  Speaker 1: if anything, have they said in response to this murder?
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  Speaker 2: We have been trying to get a person from March
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  Speaker 2: on March to speak to us and just give us
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  Speaker 2: any formal information about it, but they haven't been picking up.
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  Speaker 2: So we are still on the ground. We are hoping
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  Speaker 2: that they will be able to arrive here and be
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  Speaker 2: part of the 5pm march, which we then will be
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  Speaker 2: able to speak to them and also get an attending
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  Speaker 2: in terms of a comment from them that this march
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  Speaker 2: has resulted in such an incident.
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  Speaker 1: Sakiseni Ngomalo, thank you very much. Journalists joining us from News24.