Back-to-school rush ends in footwear fight

THE back-to-school rush took an interesting twist on Tuesday when a fight over a shoe broke out at a local wholesaler specialising in school uniforms in Windhoek’s southern industrial area.

A mother claims she was refused the opportunity to buy school shoes for her child, had a disagreement with a shop attendant and the argument escalated into a physical tussle leading to a little girl in the shop being hit in the face with a shoe in the crossfire. The altercation brought business at the shop to a standstill for about an hour.The woman, Tusnelde Hangula, laid a charge with the Police against shop attendant Kennedy Kaunda, who also pressed charges against her. The details of what happened remain sketchy, but the fight allegedly started when Kaunda informed Hangula that she could not get the shoes she wanted. Hangula said she was told that she could not buy the shoes alone, as they were part of a school outfit that had to be bought as a package.What happened next remains unclear, as both parties allege that the other started the fight by hurling insults in Oshiwambo – and a shoe. Hangula said Kaunda insulted her first while Kaunda said she threw a shoe at him first. The two wrestled before Hangula was dragged out of the shop by other shop employees. The Windhoek City Police had to be called in to defuse the commotion. Kaunda’s employer, Mohammed Patel, owner of Boundary Wholesale, was unhappy with what he described as Police siding with Hangula, whom he said was inconsiderate towards other customers. Patel claimed that Hangula also treated him in a derogatory fashion by calling him a Pakistani.’We are being discriminated against and I will never insult anybody just because of their belief,’ Patel said. He said he was very upset that Hangula called him a Pakistani while he was a South African Muslim.Patel added that his shop lost items during the commotion. Patel’s son, Ibrahim, said he could not give an account of what happened since the verbal exchange between Hangula and Kaunda was in Oshiwambo and he does not understand the language.