South African police arrested more than 900 people during nationwide protests on 30 June, with just 12 of the 120 marches across the country requiring law enforcement intervention.
The Deputy National Commissioner for Policing, Lieutenant General TC Mosikili, told a media briefing today that whilst 108 of the demonstrations remained peaceful, police were forced to deploy reinforcements overnight to Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Western Cape to respond to isolated incidents of looting and criminality.
The South African National Defence Force was deployed in support of police operations, with troops deployed to Hillbrow in Gauteng.
Western Cape recorded the highest number of arrests with 215 people detained, followed by Eastern Cape with 208 arrests and KwaZulu-Natal with 153. Free State police arrested 132 people, whilst North West recorded 83 arrests. Gauteng arrested more than 82 people, Northern Cape 51, Limpopo 26 and Mpumalanga seven.
Suspects were arrested on charges including public violence, looting, business robberies of spaza shops, contravention of the Immigration Act, incitement to commit violence and harbouring illegal foreign nationals.
Government warned that those who exploited the marches to commit criminal acts would face the full might of the law, whilst acknowledging that many citizens had genuine concerns about lack of economic opportunities, irregular migration, service delivery, border management and public safety.
The day’s events were marred by a fatal road accident in Limpopo when a bus transporting Malawian nationals during a repatriation operation crashed, killing the driver and injuring 11 passengers.
Government said it had successfully repatriated 4 286 foreign nationals and deported a further 419 in recent days as part of its comprehensive approach for migration management announced by President Ramaphosa.
Government commended communities for exercising their constitutional right to protest peacefully during the migration-related demonstrations, saying it reflected the strength of the country’s democracy.
“We commend citizens, community leaders, organisers, civil society formations, religious leaders and law enforcement agencies for their commitment to peace, restraint and respect for the rule of law throughout the country,” they said in a statement.
No police officers were reported injured during the operations.
