by Ndumiso Mlilo
PRETORIA, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The South African Police Service (SAPS) said Friday they have arrested 156 people since last night following the resurgence of anti-foreigner sentiments.
While addressing the media in Pretoria, Acting Police National Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane said, South Africans started burning tyres around 5:00 a.m. on Friday in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria calling for the foreigners to leave the country.
This was followed by the march by a group calling itself "Mamelodi Concerned Residents". They said the foreigners are responsible for criminal activities in the country.
Lieutenant General Phahlane said the march had been approved and they were monitoring it. He said the situation is calm and the police are in control.
He said, "This march follows periodic violence and looting over the past week. The law enforcement acted speedily in arresting 156 people since last night. SAPS have exercised maximum restraint and they have also contained violence. We caution those engaging in violence that law enforcement will not hesitate to act."
He said the police exercised maximum restraint during the march with some marchers from Atteridgeville throwing stones. Phahlane said they had to use proportional force to diffuse the situation. He warned that those committing crime will be arrested.
He encouraged people not to spread fake news. Some have been spreading news on social media about impending attacks on foreigners. Phahlane said they will beef up their operations and maintain visibility in the advent of xenophobia.
The Portfolio Committee on Police called on South Africans on Friday not to take law into their own hands but to follow the law. The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Francois Beukman said while people have a right to raise their concerns, they must act within the confines of the law.
He said, "It is the Constitutional duty of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to protect and secure the inhabitants of South Africa and their property. As such, the Committee will support the necessary steps the SAPS will undertake to maintain law and order."
Beukman said some occurrences in Pretoria show that the law was being broken and called on the police to arrest those found on the wrong side of the law.
He said, "The Constitution places an obligation on all South Africans to respect and live in harmony with all communities, whether they are foreign or local."
Mamelodi Concerned Residents marched Friday through the streets of Pretoria attacking foreigners telling them to return to their countries accusing them of dealing in drugs and stealing jobs.
Some foreigners also grouped and vowed to defend themselves in the Pretoria City Centre. Police had to fire rubber bullets to disperse the two groups. Journalists were also injured by the rubber bullets when the police fired.
The march was criticized by many in the country. The Nelson Mandela Foundation said the government, civil society and all stake holders should tackle xenophobia, and Pretoria should not have permitted the anti-foreigners march.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Sello Hatanga said, "The measures of who belongs and who doesn't that we see being thrown around so recklessly are deeply problematic. I am beginning to feel 'othered', as my father's family has its roots in Lesotho and my mother's in Botswana."
The Congress of South Africans Trade Unions (Cosatu) in Gauteng also criticized the anti-foreigner sentiments. Cosatu said the march against foreigners have a regime change agenda, and xenophobia is as a result of socio-economic challenges like unemployment facing the country.
Amos Monyela, Cosatu provincial chairperson said, "We call all the Gauteng citizens to desist from these heinous actions against our African brothers and sisters. We want to remind all citizens that during the liberation struggle our forebears found protection outside South Africa until political freedom was attained."
Cosatu called on the police to take act fast and arrest those attacking foreigners. Cosatu also encouraged government to have "sober immigration policy" and address the unemployment in the country.
