South Africa’s Deputy National Police Commissioner for Policing, Tebello Mosikili, has warned people not to carry dangerous weapons, including traditional weapons, during planned marches on 30 June.
Mosikili was speaking alongside Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia on Monday, 22 June, at a media briefing on security plans for nationwide demonstrations against illegal immigration.
The protests come amid rising tensions over immigration and renewed calls for a national shutdown by the anti-immigration group March and March.
Mosikili said police would enforce the law with no exceptions, and anyone found carrying a weapon at the marches would be dealt with.
“If the law says do not carry a weapon it means a weapon and from operational point of view that somebody next door will feel threatened if you have such instrument that includes a spear, you are marching why are do you carry a spear while marching because you are not at war, sjamboks, air guns any kind of weapon, there are other means that can be used to control the crowd. This is prohibited and cannot be debated,” said Mosikili.
30 June has become the flashpoint for a tense, unofficial deadline targeting foreign nationals in South Africa, raising fears of xenophobic violence and civil unrest.
A coalition of anti-immigration and vigilante groups, including Operation Dudula and March and March, has unilaterally declared 30 June the date by which undocumented migrants must leave the country.
The groups have demanded that businesses dismiss foreign workers by then and have threatened a national shutdown and mass protests if the ultimatum is ignored.
This has spread deep fear among migrant communities, including legal refugees and asylum seekers whose paperwork is delayed by Home Affairs’ extensive administrative backlogs.
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