“We want the money‚ not the stock.”

Mamelodi West shopkeeper Ashenfi Abera‚ 25‚ from Ethiopia‚ was sleeping when two men armed with a gun and a knife entered his shop on Tuesday night.

They hit him until he fell to the ground and stabbed him in the left cheek.

“It was all that we had. I don’t understand why they had to do something like this‚” said Abera‚ in tears.

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It did not end there: the robbers also took the shop keys and locked him inside‚ preventing him and his family from getting help from the community.

Police were called to the scene but the two men had already fled with the cash.

He and other shop owners in and around Mamelodi are living in fear.

Most were also robbed of their goods after residents went on a looting spree‚ in the midst of protests sparked by the ANC’s choice of mayoral candidate for the August municipal elections.

Hafiz Khuram‚ who hails from Pakistan‚ said he doesn’t understand the reason behind the looting. “I want to do business here‚ but I actually think these people don’t like us. They want us to go‚” he said.

His friend‚ Yishak Wangore from Ethiopia‚ was forced to close his shop on Wednesday morning after two of his other shops were looted last night. It was in vain. By the afternoon‚ his last tuckshop was broken into‚ and everything was taken.

Other shop owners have taken what’s left of their stock to the police station‚ for safekeeping.