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Fears of widespread unrest, which prompted one of the Eastern Cape’s biggest security deployments in recent years, failed to materialise on Tuesday, with protests across the province remaining largely peaceful.
More than 14,000 security personnel were mobilised ahead of the June 30 “deadline” imposed by civic organisations for foreigners in SA illegally to pack up and leave.
Streets in towns and cities across the province were eerily quiet, with many businesses closed and boarded up as owners braced for possible violence.
However, marches proceeded peacefully and the organisers escalated their campaign, announcing a 10-day extension of the demonstrations and calling on residents to boycott foreign-owned businesses.
Thousands of police officers, soldiers, traffic officials and other law enforcement personnel had been deployed after intelligence identified 17 potential hotspots, including KuGompo City, Nelson Mandela Bay and Mthatha.
Though demonstrations did take place in the major centres as well as in towns such as Komani and in the Ndlambe municipality, the turnout was generally well below expectations, and no major incidents were reported.
Demonstrations in most centres were attended by a few hundred protesters rather than the thousands many observers feared would turn up.
Speaking outside the city hall in KuGompo City after leading a march through the CBD, the March and March movement’s Buffalo City co-ordinator, Azola Mrano, said the day was just the start of a longer campaign.
Addressing about 100 protesters, she said March and March had honoured its commitment to protest peacefully but warned that people would remain frustrated unless the government addressed illegal immigration and crime.
Mrano also urged residents not to support foreign-owned businesses.
“Rather bake yourself than buy from them. We should no longer buy from them.
“We’re not even fighting; we just want them to get … take their bags and leave.
“Our march has been peaceful, we don’t want them to leave in body bags,” she said.
AmaXhosa Kingdom representative iNkosi Xhanti Sigcawu echoed this sentiment.
“I am happy there was no violence today, but government must not mistake that for complacency … our patience is very thin,” he said.
The turnout in KuGompo City was noticeably smaller than last week’s preliminary march, when scores of protesters handed a memorandum to officers at the Fleet Street police station and the magistrate’s court.
The most dramatic scenes unfolded in Qonce, where about 200 demonstrators moved through the town centre, forcing several businesses to close and prompting the police to intervene repeatedly to ensure calm.
Most foreign-owned businesses had already shut their doors before the march.
However, two hair salons were forced to close despite workers insisting they were owned by South Africans.
Some customers had to leave the salons with half-finished hair weaves as police attempted to calm demonstrators.
Several businesses had been marked with a large painted X before the protest.
March organisers said the markings identified businesses that they expected to close during the demonstrations.
Some organisers and participants claimed the markings had been made with the agreement of law enforcement officials to help officers identify sensitive areas, though this could not be independently verified.
One salon customer who was ordered to leave while having her hair done said: “They came in and shouted at us, saying we should leave.
“We are all Nguni-speaking people. I don’t know if they wanted us to join their march or just wanted to close the shop.
“I don’t know what to do. I will be forced to do my hair another day.
“I was scared, and it seemed like they are forcing us to join.”
A salon employee said staff were angered after being told their workplace was foreign owned.
“It is owned by a Xhosa person, so we don’t understand why they are being like this,” she said.
Outside the CBD, business continued largely as normal.
Black Business Forum chair Luthando Bara said the campaign had succeeded in putting illegal immigration on the national agenda but warned against broad economic retaliation.
“The time has come to move beyond marches and slogans and begin focusing on what South Africa should look like after June 30,” Bara said.
“Calls for a blanket boycott of all foreign-owned businesses risk harming communities, disrupting local economies and targeting people indiscriminately, regardless of their legal status or contribution to society.”
Border-Kei Chamber of Business executive director Lizelle Maurice warned that continued demonstrations risked damaging investor confidence.
“It’s never good for the economy when there are these strikes and it brings instability, especially for an investor looking in from outside.
“It decreases investor confidence to come to South Africa as a whole and to come to a specific region,” she said.
“When investors and international tourists see such unrest taking place, they rather set up a factory elsewhere or holiday somewhere else.”
She questioned the need for continued protests, saying the government was already carrying out deportations and voluntary repatriations.
Economist Dr Asanda Fotoyi of the Wits School of Governance said spaza shops, regardless of ownership, remained an important part of local economies.
“They support families, create jobs, contribute rental income to property owners and put children through school,” she said.
“The closure or removal of spaza shops, whether owned by citizens or foreign nationals, will have a real socioeconomic impact in local communities.”
The Buffalo City Metro praised protesters for maintaining order.
Municipal spokesperson Luzuko Buku said services and business activities had continued largely uninterrupted.
Eastern Cape community safety and transport MEC Xolile Nqatha said more than 14,000 police officers, soldiers, traffic officers and other law enforcement personnel had been mobilised.
“The march … has gone relatively peacefully. We appreciate the co-operation,” he said.
“We recognise the pending issues … about unemployment, about illegal immigration, about levels of criminality … They require urgent response from our side as government.”
Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Vuyisile Ncata said police would continue monitoring developments while protecting people’s constitutional right to protest.
“We are not going to allow or tolerate anyone who commits a crime,” Ncata said.
“We are not going to wait for a person to loot, or a person to block the road, a person to assume duties that do not belong to them.
“No-one is allowed to demand documentation from a person they suspect is not a South African citizen.
“It’s only the police and law enforcement who are obliged to do that.”
Elsewhere in the country, the protests also attracted smaller crowds than were anticipated, though isolated confrontations were reported.
In Johannesburg, police intervened after marchers heading towards the Kwa Mai Mai precinct were pelted with stones by residents.
In Durban, March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma insisted the turnout had met organisers’ expectations and vowed the campaign would continue.
Across much of the country, however, the biggest impact was felt away from the protests as businesses closed, commuters stayed home and taxi operators reported unusually low passenger numbers.
Daily Dispatch
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