Should anti-immigrant groups have been allowed to impose this deadline on the country?
No. It implies we have a broken SAPS or a broken security architecture. It means that structures outside the state machinery are taking the law into their own hands, and that begs the question about the role of the security apparatus. The state cannot abdicate responsibility to them in this way.
Are they calling the shots, setting the agenda?
Of course. You can’t have civil society groups or political parties outlining terms and conditions that illegal immigrants have to abide by.
Should their planned June 30 marches have been prohibited?
Yes. The state was supposed to step up to the plate and crack the whip, not allow them to be the ones that have a footprint on the ground. These guys have been going door to door telling people they need to walk around with papers confirming that they have work permits and so on. That is not right.
Should their threats and incitements to violence have been ample grounds for the government to keep them off the streets?
First of all, they shouldn’t have been given the audience they’ve been given to amplify their order to immigrants to leave the country. Secondly, this raises the issue of human rights, which are not only meant for locals. Human rights come from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the UN, so the state is duty-bound to protect the rights of foreign nationals.
Has the failure of the police to act against those inciting violence, assaulting people, closing businesses, etc., exacerbated the risks of June 30?
Yes, it has, because these organisations are now taking advantage of the brokenness of the SAPS by doing as they please. The SAPS should be intercepting these security threats, but because of the dysfunction of crime intelligence they’re not able to.
Does the SAPS have the capacity to control the situation if it goes badly wrong?
Not on their own. They’ll need assistance from the defence force.
The army hasn’t covered itself in glory when called on, has it?
Soldiers are not trained to control large groups of people. The SAPS is the one that should be leading.
Do you believe their assurances that they’ll have things under control?
That’s a very difficult question. It’s an open secret that the SAPS is not a unified force. An example is last week when we heard some senior generals were about to be arrested. There are groups within the SAPS, and this has a spillover effect on the ground. So I’m not sure they can manage crowds well on a large scale. The worst part of it is the nexus between the economy and security, because if things get out of hand our economy is going to be badly hurt.
Like in 2021?
Precisely. And that would mean we don’t have a government that is effective.
Is that the message the government has sent? That they’re not in control, they’ve handed the initiative to March and March?
I agree. The government hasn’t sent a strong message to these groups; they’ve been using a softy-softly approach.
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