By 2007 the anguish that had erupted in Masiphumelele the previous year had subsided. The township's conflict intervention process came to a close on Human Rights Day with a programme of festivities and dancing at a nearby school. Foreign retailer representatives had agreed that their countrymen would not open any new shops in the township and South African traders accepted their promise in exchange for peace. No further uprisings were reported in the city or province that year, making 2007 seem relatively free of social conflict and anti-foreigner violence.

But the events of 2006 were not so easily overcome for those who had been adversely affected. After escaping the angry crowds in the seaside township, Mohamed took up employment at a small Somali wholesaler in Bellstar Junction, located next to the Bellville train station platform. When not spending his time politely negotiating sales of bread and bags of peanuts with customers hurrying on and off trains, he became increasingly engaged in community activism. He found a cramped three-bedroomed apartment to rent, which he shared with eight other tenants. Life felt safer, but his ambition of operating his own business to support his intended further education had been stalled. His pursuit of movement, change and advancement had become suspended.

Despite the absence of tumultuous riots in 2007, the year was far from a period of calm. Reported business robbery rates in the Western Cape Province leapt several-fold, from 197 robberies between April 2006 and March 2007 to 635 robberies between April 2007 and March 2008. Nationally, reported business robberies increased by 47.4 per cent. Violence against foreign retailers reached new levels, but the public's awareness of this increase did not. Nor, for that matter, did SAPS’. SAPS had yet to link these surges in robberies to the spaza market, let alone foreign-owned shops. Its annual crime report for that year notes a dramatic increase in business robberies. It describes these robberies as occurring usually in central business districts such as Johannesburg Central, Durban Central and Pinetown. The report cautioned that increases in aggravated robbery were particularly troublesome, as they engendered negative perceptions of security in the country. It called for tough action on the culprits: ‘Seen in this light, the criminals committing these crimes deserve the harshest possible punishment. They play an active part in sabotaging the development prospects of South Africa.’