Police say they are ready to monitor “every situation” after March and March movement leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma announced that they will take to the streets every Thursday until the government removes undocumented immigrants from South Africa.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) made the remarks during a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday, following the June 30 nationwide protests.
The briefing followed the nationwide protests on Tuesday targeting undocumented foreign nationals.
More than 20 civic groups, led by the March and March movement, called for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa.
Protests took place across all nine provinces, with organisers maintaining their demand that undocumented foreign nationals leave the country.
The organisers set an unofficial June 30 deadline for undocumented foreign nationals to self-deport.
Addressing protesters outside SAPS Point in Durban after thousands marched through the city on Tuesday, Ngobese-Zuma said the campaign would continue every week until the government responded to the group’s demands.
“For as long as they haven’t left, we are marching every Thursday,” she told supporters.
She also warned that if authorities continued deploying large numbers of police officers to monitor the demonstrations, the cost to the state would continue to rise.
“We hope the government has a budget for another R600 million,” she said, adding that the continued presence of undocumented immigrants would require ongoing security operations.
Ngobese-Zuma further alleged that drugs were being sold openly in some communities.
She said criminal activity linked to undocumented immigration remained a major concern for supporters of the movement.
Meanwhile, NatJoints chairperson Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili said authorities had noted the movement’s intention to continue protesting.
She said the men and women in blue, together with other law enforcement agencies, were ready to monitor the situation and maintain law and order.
Mosikili said the South African Police Service, together with other law enforcement agencies, including the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), private security companies and other stakeholders, had been working together under long-standing operational programmes.
“We have signed the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) called Eyes and Ears, that is working with private security companies, and I want to reiterate what I said the other day, that South African police service remains in charge, it remains constitutionally mandated in terms of policing in the country.”
“Any other law enforcement that works alongside the South African police service is for the support and the supplementation as and when it is required.”
About the Author
