By Akani Nkuna
Police have identified leads in their investigation into looting following immigration protests in Soweto, with arrests expected soon, according to Acting National Police Commissioner Lt Gen Puleng Dimpane.
“We will be investigating those cases. In terms of [those] responsible for this mayhem of yesterday, we have leads, and we will pursue them and very soon we will bring them to justice,” she said on Friday.
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“We are here to brief the premier and give comfort that the situation remains calm. We remain in the area and any other area that may prove to be difficult in this regard.”
Dimpane was speaking to the media in Soweto on Friday following an overnight deployment of police and South African National Defence Force personnel in the area.
She said that nine cases of malicious damage to property, public violence and common assault linked to the Soweto protests have been opened.
Anti-immigration protests erupted across some parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday. They quickly turned violent with some protesters looting and burning shops owned by foreign nationals. Cars were also torched.
Dimpane said law enforcement deployments had been reinforced, with police continuing to monitor the situation throughout the day to restore calm, maintain law and order and return the community to normalcy.
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“We have arrived since 6am. There will be calm in these areas. We will be making our rounds to [give our] support and to ensure… that indeed those forces that we mobilised last night are still intact in this regard,” said Dimpane.
The recent wave of protests followed the Home Affairs Department issuing a directive that permitted refugee reception offices to accept asylum applications from all people seeking protection, regardless of how they entered South Africa. It was withdrawn of Friday.
Tensions remain high in KwaZulu-Natal and there is a heavy police presence in Durban.
