A senior reporter, Channel, Africa, Nhlanhla Mahlangu, has said that anti-immigration protests held across several South African cities remained largely peaceful despite isolated incidents of violence and attempted looting. She also revealed that organisers intend to continue with weekly demonstrations from next Thursday until their demands are met.
“Protesters today came out in their numbers and mostly were largely peaceful. However, we did see skirmishes of violence break out in some parts of Soweto as well as the city of Johannesburg, which were quickly brought under control by law enforcement agencies. Police continue to maintain high visibility and presence across the country in areas that have been identified as hotspots.
“The leaders of this protest have announced today that come next week, from Thursday, every Thursday, they will be taking to the streets until the government heeds to their call and ensure that all undocumented nationals leave the country,” she revealed.
Mahlangu further reported that an inter-ministerial committee comprising ministers within South Africa’s security cluster commended the largely peaceful conduct of the protests while condemning isolated incidents of violence reported across the country.
“This evening, we had a briefing by the inter-ministerial committee, comprising of various ministers within the security cluster, who spoke about today’s protest, largely commending the conduct of how things turned out, but also condemning the pockets of violence that have been reported throughout the country.”
She added that authorities remain concerned about possible unrest in Hillbrow, Yeoville and parts of Durban, where security forces have been deployed to maintain order.
“In areas like Hillbrow, for instance, we did hear of an incident where a 17-year-old boy and another male were shot by a shop owner who was supposedly fearing for his life when he saw a group of protesters approaching his street where his shop is based. That was quickly quelled with the presence of the defense force, that being the army that has been called to monitor the area of Hillbrow. So far, it’s only Hillbrow, Yeoville, and some parts of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal province where authorities fear there could be an outbreak of violence. But other than that, throughout the country, it remains largely peaceful,” she said.
According to Mahlangu, the anti-immigration protests have attracted support from a broad cross-section of South African society, including both employed and unemployed citizens, with some participants taking time off work to join the demonstrations.
“The people that have taken to the streets are a mixture of those who are unemployed and those who are working. Particularly in Soweto, some of the people that we spoke to—because the march on march started in Soweto on Sunday—some of the people that we spoke to did say that on Monday, as well as yesterday, they had taken time off their work to make sure that they take to the streets and put their views across.
“Today mainly, because the government did declare that it is a normal working day and people will be expected to head to their respective workplaces, it was mainly people who we assume are unemployed or those whose employers had told them to take time off. Because some employers did take, did tell their employees to take time off in fear of victimization, and also because maybe the stores or the shops that they operate in are along the routes where the protesters were likely would have gone past,” she shared.
However, she noted that President Cyril Ramaphosa had urged calm ahead of the protests and engaged with protest leaders, while authorities increased security deployments at identified hotspots and shopping centres to prevent unrest and looting.
“The President did call for calm ahead of this protest, urging people to remain vigilant but also to take to the streets in a very respectful and calm manner. So the President has been vocal about this protest. Just yesterday, he also had a meeting with two of the leaders who are spearheading these protests, urging them to appeal to their supporters to ensure that law and order prevails, and just reinforcing that law enforcement agencies will be present in all hotspots, particularly also at malls.
“So, government is indeed taking this protest seriously. I wouldn’t say they are downplaying it, hence, just this afternoon, we also had an inter-ministerial committee briefing the media on just how the proceedings unfolded this afternoon. Tomorrow, we are also expecting the NetJoints, which is a law enforcement agency, to give us an update of how many people were arrested for attempted looting, those who also took advantage of the protest and tried to cause some skirmishes around. So we’ll get all those details tomorrow from law enforcement,” she said.
Speaking on the wider impact of the protests, Mahlangu said government ministers shared former President Thabo Mbeki’s concerns that the demonstrations could harm African unity and South Africa’s standing on the continent.
“Indeed, the former President did make those remarks. In fact, the Police Minister, as well as the Minister in the Presidency this afternoon, also echoed the same sentiments of how South Africa is trying to be a unifier across the continent, and these protests have the potential to do all the, to undo all the work that has been done already to move the continent forward. So government does indeed agree with what former President has said, judging from what was said this afternoon from the NetJoints, from the inter-ministerial committee briefing, rather,” she said.
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