A call has been made to the police not to use violence, take sides or intervene in marches to disperse foreigners who have fled KwaZulu-Natal.
The main event of the anti-immigrant march organized by March and March is from King Dinuzulu Park in Durban tomorrow and large numbers of people are expected to be part of it. Professor Firoz Cachalia, Acting Minister of Police, speaking to the police who will be closely monitoring the marches in the province, warned the police that the marches could get out of hand.
“Don’t use rags when you are guarding the marches. You are neutral but you know that you are following the law. Don’t be selective in the marches when you have to enforce the law. Remember that you are being watched closely for the way you behave,” said Cachalia who said that marchers and non-marchers must be protected.
The Premier of the province, Mr. Thami Ntuli, revealed that out of 15,000 Malawians have been returned to their country.
He said that from today no one will be accepted in the place where the Malawians were kept, in North Beach.
“There are those who want to put a duck’s foot in the protest, who want us to go back to the incident of July 2021. KZN is still licking its wounds from the damage caused by the 2021 riots as the damage caused to the economy is estimated at R20 billion,” said Ntuli.
The Border Management Authority (BMA) has revealed that many people from Malawi have been returned to their country since June 12 this year.
IBMA said there were 1,521 Zimbabweans who were transported in 26 buses to their country.
“We urge those returning to their countries to first obtain the appropriate permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs before coming to the border. We are working with the police as well as different departments to bring back people who have fled the country.”
Speaking to the SABC media Mr. Cyril Mncwabe, an official in the Ministry of Home Affairs in KZN, said that there are about 7,000 Malawians in North Beach who are waiting to be returned to their country.
He said the buses are leaving, they are escorted by security agencies and they are received by other agencies in Tugela and then taken to Musina where they will wait to be returned to their country.
Private security agencies also contribute to monitoring the situation tomorrow in the province so that there are no incidents of looting and destruction of institutions.