By Des Erasmus
A strong police contingent, including dozens of officers, at least four police buses, several tactical vehicles and what appeared to be a mobile prisoner trailer, remained stationed outside the Home Affairs offices on Che Guevara Road in Durban’s Berea on Thursday, ahead of a biker’s convoy by anti-illegal immigration group March and March.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the deployment had been in place for the past two weeks and declined to say whether additional officers would be brought in for the biker convoy, scheduled to begin at 5pm, citing “operational” reasons.
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The area was “safe”, he told Inside Politics.
Across the road from the police, about 30 March and March supporters were gathered near the offices, an area that has been the scene of violent confrontations between protesters, foreign nationals and police in the past weeks.
Hours earlier on Thursday, a foreign national was beaten to death by a mob of about 50 people in Russell Street in central Durban, just a day after March and March and e-hailing drivers staged a motorcade through the city.
Police have not said that murder is connected to March and March supporters, and have said that investigations are ongoing.
The March and March supporters on Che Guevara road, who gather opposite Home Affairs offices almost daily, told Inside Politics they did not want to be photographed or have their names published.
Some, however, were willing to talk, while others in the group were sitting in camping chairs or simply standing about in the shade of donated gazebos.
One man was putting the finishing touches to a feather duster that appeared to have been fashioned into a rudimentary knopkiere. Others were openly carrying sticks.
Another man, with sunglasses on and the rest of his face obscured by a cotton scarf, said he had to dress that way to “hide” because threats had been made against him “by my own people”.
A woman wearing a March and March T-shirt said she was with the group daily. Asked where she slept, she laughed and said, “soldiers don’t sleep”.
The woman said she wanted “foreign criminals” out of the area. “We have our own criminals too, just look at the Madlanga [Commission], but first these ones must go,” she said.
Durban residents and businesses have been on high alert for weeks as anti-illegal immigrant protests – some large and organised, others appearing to be opportunistic and ragtag – take place sporadically throughout the city and some of its suburbs on almost a daily basis.
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On Wednesday, a video emerged of a mob in the CBD beating a man believed to be a foreign national. Police were able to intervene. Netshiunda did not offer any comment on the assault when asked.
Also on Wednesday, a group of men were harassing businesses close to the Durban Botanic Gardens along Cowey Road. The men had covered faces and sticks. Security groups who were present said they understood the men were part of March and March, but this could not be verified by Inside Politics.
Later on, stores were attacked – with one nearly set alight – on Berea Road, close to the Durban University of Technology.
Two weeks ago, protestors targeted foreign-owned businesses in the Berea area, where they looted shops and set vehicles alight. Some of the torched shops were locally-owned.
At Wednesday night’s e-hailing rally, March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma threatened a larger protest on 10 November if government went ahead with its online asylum registration system.
Home Affairs wants to introduce the system by that date, allowing asylum seekers to register their intention to apply online and obtain appointments at refugee reception offices.
The decision follows a July Constitutional Court ruling that struck down provisions allowing asylum seekers without transit visas to be deported.
Online registration, however, does not automatically grant asylum or legal refugee status.
