Sheikh Amir Hussien, from the Somali Community Board of the Western Cape, slammed the action against the Somali community as a xenophobic attack.

Other people living in Valhalla Park looted Somali shops and drove the owners and their families out of the area last Wednesday evening.

'they can't just move people out like that'
Hussein said he was trying to get in touch with community leaders about the incident.

"They were removed just like that - they can't just move people out like that," he said.

"(The community leaders) said the shop owners were given three months' notice, but the shop owners said they did not know anything about the notice."

The people claimed the foreigners were taking business and livelihoods away from locals and bringing drugs into the community.

Residents emphasised this week that they were satisfied that the foreigners had left the area.

Members of the United Front Civic Organisation, a community-elected committee, said they had warned the shop owners several months ago to pack up and leave as the community wanted them out.

Police were called in to Eleanore Street after a group of people surrounded a Somali-owned shop and shots were allegedly fired.

Hussein said the men driven out of the community last week were being accommodated in Bellville and had few possessions left.

He said allegations that the men were selling drugs from their shops were not true.

"These attacks are xenophobic and nothing else. These men were seen as easy targets," he said.