Sixteen vehicles were set alight during protests in Durban and Soweto after anti-immigration protesters burned vehicles and stoned buildings on Thursday.
In Durban, the Durban Fire Department reported that seven vehicles were set alight on Dr Pixley KaSeme Street and Park Lane.
Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the Public Order Police officers and officers from other police units, supported by Durban Metro Police and other role players in the law enforcement sector, are monitoring the protest at the Durban CBD.
“Reports indicate that a group marching against Gender-Based Violence in the Durban CBD, after finishing their march, reportedly walked down Dr Pixley kaSeme Street to join another group marching at the Home Affairs offices. Information at this stage suggests that as they were walking, one of them was allegedly assaulted by a foreign national and his leg was broken. It is not yet clear what sparked the alleged assault. The group became angry, and violence erupted, resulting in the burning of vehicles,” he said.
Building set alight
Police responded to the escalating violence and arrested three foreign nationals for the assault. Netshiunda said a lodge building and a warehouse were partially burnt; however, the fire was immediately extinguished.
Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) Superintendent Xolani Fihla said nine vehicles were set alight in the vicinity of the Department of Home Affairs in Soweto.
Fihla said clashes between South Africans and foreign nationals ignited the protest. He said they were investigating allegations that gunshots were fired against the South African protesters, which could have led to the vehicles being set alight. He reported no injuries and said the situation remained tense.
Call for peace
On Thursday afternoon, activist Nkosinathi Ndabandaba called for calm in the Durban CBD. He told the crowd they should not break the law despite their frustrations. But his message came too late after shops were looted and foreign nationals were already attacked.
Mobs of men walked around the side streets, damaging shops and setting alight a building on Joseph Nduli Street, formerly known as Russel Street.
Government meeting in migration
On Wednesday night, an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Migration outlined a series of measures to strengthen South Africa’s asylum system and broader migration management following the Constitutional Court judgment that expanded access to the asylum determination process.
The judgment caused an operational impact after Refugee Reception Offices experienced a significant increase in people seeking to lodge asylum applications.
Briefing media in Pretoria on Thursday, IMC Chairperson and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, said the IMC is working with the Department of Home Affairs, Border Management Authority, law enforcement agencies and other departments to address the immediate pressure on the asylum system.
“The Constitutional Court judgment, handed down in July in the matter of the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town and another versus Minister of Home Affairs and others, must not be interpreted as legalising unlawful migration or giving people an automatic right to remain in the country,” Kubayi said.
zainul.dawood@iol.co.za
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