By Johnathan Paoli
The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster has urged organisers of anti-immigration protests to notify authorities before marches, as government moves to contain fears of unrest ahead of a 30 June deadline set by activists for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa, or be forced to leave.
Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, who chairs the cluster, said on Monday that South Africans had a constitutional right to protest but that organisers had a duty to notify authorities so that police could secure demonstrations and protect citizens and lawful migrants.
Briefing reporters at the Union Buildings in Tshwane, Kubayi said the government had met political parties, civic groups and organisations involved in recent demonstrations over undocumented foreign nationals after protests that began in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng spread to other provinces and increasingly turned aggressive.
“[South Africans] have the right to hold protests. But we are appealing to them to ensure that they are peaceful. And we have appealed to them in the meeting to say, those marches, notify us. You are going to march. How many people are you expecting? So that, as the state, we can ensure law enforcement on the ground,” Kubayi said.
The protests have intensified ahead of 30 June, which has raised fears among migrants and human rights groups.
“When there are peaceful marches, it would not draw our attention. We’ll monitor, we’ll follow. But once they become violent, then they draw our attention,” Kubayi said.
The meeting was attended by ministers, deputy ministers and senior national security officials, including Acting National Police Commissioner Puleng Dimpane.
Kubayi said the talks focused on illegal immigration, social cohesion and the implementation of the National Action Plan to combat racism, xenophobia and related intolerance.
The minister said the meeting also gave government an opportunity to brief organisations on immigration enforcement operations, deportation statistics and proposed legislative reforms.
“We explained what we are doing, what we plan to do going forward in terms of the work that needs to be done,” she said.
Kubayi warned that uncoordinated protests exposed organisers and participants to unnecessary risks.
Kubayi announced that deputy Police Minister Polly Boshielo and deputy Home Affairs Minister Njabulo Nzuza would lead a team coordinating visibility operations involving multiple departments and law enforcement agencies.
The deputy ministers are expected to report back to the cluster on 11 June.
Kubayi rejected suggestions that the government had been passive on illegal immigration, saying the Border Management Authority, Home Affairs, police and labour inspectors had been conducting ongoing enforcement operations.
Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga said the government recognised citizens’ frustrations but had a duty to balance constitutional rights with the protection of human dignity.
“The right to strike is a constitutional right. As much as South Africans have the right to strike, and their anger and their frustration is highly understandable, that right also goes with certain responsibilities,” she said.
Motshekga said the government supported peaceful demonstrations planned for 30 June but warned against unlawful action targeting migrants.
“We support them to have a free and safe march. All we are asking them is to do within the framework of the law,” she said.
Kubayi said the state faced the difficult task of responding to socioeconomic frustrations while upholding constitutional protections.
“There is a balancing act in responsibility, protecting the individual because they have no way of knowing who this person is. We believe as a country, our response is that we are not xenophobic as a country. And we don’t believe that South Africans are xenophobic. There are socioeconomic issues that we’ve got to deal with,” the minister said.
Spokesperson for the anti-illegal immigrant group March on March, Sandile Dube, said the briefing was worrying because it suggested government was not taking South Africans’ concerns seriously.
“They take it as just another shut down, and they have seen many. South Africans are saying they have had enough of illegal foreign nationals and they want them removed from this country,” Dube said.
He denied that the movement was xenophobic or violent.
“Our call is an anti-xenophobic call, it’s a call that takes the national security of the country at hand, and we want to protect South Africa as South Africans,” he said.
Dube said the protests had spread to Limpopo, North West and the Free State, and rejected claims that the campaign was tribalist or a “Zulu” movement.
INSIDE POLITICS
