Police minister Bheki Cele has started his meeting with community leaders and business owners at Jeppe police station in downtown Johannesburg.

The meeting is expected to help calm the tempers  in Jeppestown, where the looting of mostly foreign-owned shops began on Sunday.

Among the people taking part in the meeting  is the izindunas from nearby hostels, affected business owners and police leadership. Not far from where Cele is holding the meeting are thousands of hostel dwellers who have gathered, expecting to have a word with Cele.

Listen | What Police Minister General Bheki Cele plans to do about violent looting in Gauteng

Among those who also attended the meeting was Gauteng premier David Makhura. However, Makhura was forced to leave immediately after learning that a South African had been shot, allegedly by a foreign national, in Coronation. Details of the incident are still sketchy but Makhura had rushed to the area to ensure there is no further escalation of violence.

Over the past three days, Gauteng has been engulfed with incidents of looting of shops in various parts of the province. The looting has been seen as xenophobic as most shops which were targeted belonged to foreign nationals.

Since Tuesday morning, shop owners have been counting costs of the looting which was quite rampant on Monday. Some of the shop owners returned to their businesses to take leftover stock on Tuesday. The looting has been condemned by government and political parties.