Manamela warns against looting

He said young people reportedly claimed they looted foreign own shops to protect the economy of Soweto.

 

"We should stand up and 'say not in our name'. You are not doing this in our name and we are not going to allow it.

 

"There is a strong sense of entitlement and shifting the blame instead of taking responsibility," he said.

 

"Crime is crime -- you cannot justify it."

 

He condemned the looting saying those leading it would turn against their neighbour once there were no foreigner-owned shops to loot.

 

"They will look next door and say 'you are Venda therefore you must go to Venda, or, you are a Xhosa you must go to Pondoland'."

 

He said young people in church have a role to speak against the bad things youths were associated with.

 

"We are in church to strengthen those who have good things."

 

He was speaking at the Rhema church in Protea South, Soweto.

 

He called on parents to take a leading role in raising their children.

 

"We cannot have a situation where parents are defeated by their children."

 

He said parents must make sure that children who supposed to attend school were at school.

 

He arrived at the church dressed in a black suit and listened attentively as Pastor Ray McCauley's sermon was beamed from Rhema in Randburg on to a giant screen.

 

Looting engulfed parts of Soweto after a teenager was shot dead last Monday, allegedly by a foreign shopkeeper in Snake Park near Dobsonville.

 

Residents sprang into a revenge attack looting shops belonging to foreigners. This spread to other parts of Soweto and by Thursday it had spilled over to Kagiso in the West Rand and Sebokeng in the Vaal.

 

Three people were killed and over 160 arrested.

 

This included a baby trampled to death when it was bumped away from its mother when people were running away.

 

A shop owner accused of killing the teenager is due back in court on Monday, with dual appearances expected of others arrested on charges of public violence.