Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia says the South African Police Service (SAPS) cannot devote all its resources to managing anti-illegal immigration protests every week, and that the state cannot afford to spend R600 million each time such protests are planned.
Cachalia toured the Durban CBD to survey the damage from this week’s protests. IOL reports that on Friday 9 October he walked Pixley KaSeme Street with KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli and provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. The Police Ministry later commented on the cost of policing such protests.
The protests in Durban and Soweto were sparked by anger over a Home Affairs directive, since withdrawn, that offices assist all asylum seekers who show up at their doors. In Durban, 14 vehicles were torched on Thursday 8 October and shops were looted. Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Puleng Dimpane said 10 vehicles were set alight in Soweto.
“The state cannot afford it”
The Police Ministry told EWN that police spent about R600 million to manage nationwide protests planned for 30 June, and that it cannot budget that amount every time anti-illegal immigration groups protest.
Cachalia called it a costly exercise the state cannot afford regularly. “When protest action takes place, especially violent protest action which results in violence and that requires the police to pay attention to public protest that might lead to violence, it misdirects the police,” he said.
Budget versus actual spend
Earlier reports show R600 million was the amount SAPS allocated for the 30 June operation. In a parliamentary reply to ATM leader Vuyo Zungula, Cachalia said SAPS had spent R306.2 million on the deployment, of which R251.8 million was overtime. The Sunday Tribune reported that claims were still being finalised, so the figures could change.
Cachalia has also defended the use of private security firms for the operation. He said police remained the lead agency and that all law enforcement powers stayed with SAPS.
Talks with protest leaders
Cachalia and other senior KwaZulu-Natal government officials said they will meet the leaders of anti-illegal immigration groups. They will remind members that they have a right to protest, but must do so peacefully and without violence.
Ntuli earlier said the violence may not have been planned, but that organisers should have anticipated the reaction. He also asked for the SANDF to be deployed in Durban, saying the situation had become unmanageable.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration urged restraint on Sunday. It said public discussion had caused “uncertainty, speculation, and, in some instances, heightened tensions”. IOL reports 30 people have been arrested since Thursday, 25 in KwaZulu-Natal and five in Gauteng, on charges including public violence, illegal gathering and obstruction.
