More than 2,000 Zimbabweans are sheltering at a Cape Town processing centre
Image: Bheki Radebe
Time's up.
Anti-immigrant protesters are expected to take to the streets across SA on Tuesday after their deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave the country expired at midnight.
But by first light, police across the country said they had not recorded any major incidents linked to the planned action.
More than 25,000 foreigners had already been bussed out of the country, while thousands more had fled their homes and taken refuge in repatriation centres, consulates and makeshift camps.
This as the state deployed thousands of police and soldiers across the country — at a cost of R600m and counting — to prevent the protests from turning violent, as they did in 2008.
That year, mobs torched homes, looted shops and butchered 62 people across the country, sending tens of thousands fleeing for their lives.
Tuesday's mass protest action, which became known as June 30 after the deadline set for undocumented foreigners to leave, also draws a strong parallel to the 2021 unrest that followed ex-president Jacob Zuma's jailing, in which more than 350 died.
And praying history would not repeat itself, worshippers from different faiths packed mosques dotted across SA on Monday night.
Province by province, police reported a quiet start to Tuesday.
In Gauteng, the centre of the planned marches, police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said at 5.40am that nothing had been reported so far.
In the Eastern Cape, Kouga police spokesperson Captain Marius McCarthy said at 5.15am that no violent incidents had been reported.
In Mpumalanga, police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jabu Ndubane said there had been no incidents linked to the protests, apart from an armed robbery in Standerton in which three suspects were arrested.
In Limpopo, police spokesperson Brigadier Hlulani Mashaba said no violent incidents had been reported.
Mashaba said a video circulating online of a shop being looted in Steelpoort was old footage and disinformation.
Mashaba said police in the Maake precinct had arrested a 48-year-old farm owner and 15 undocumented workers for contravening the Immigration Act during a compliance inspection at a farm in Trichardsdal on Monday.
In the Western Cape, provincial traffic chief Maxine Bezuidenhout said at 5.25am that no disruptions had been reported.
Mossel Bay municipal spokesperson Cornelle Carstens also said no incidents had been reported so far.
Overstrand mayor Archie Klaas said that while nothing had been reported by 5.30am, he had received intelligence on Monday warning of major disruptions and large protests in the coastal region between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) briefed the media in Pretoria on Monday night, saying its operation was now in full swing.
Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, deputy national commissioner for policing and chairperson of Natjoints, said more than 25,000 foreign nationals had been repatriated so far.
She said since March 1, NatJoints recorded at least 103 cases of anti-immigrant violence and made 195 arrests.
"The state is ready, and law enforcement is ready," she said.
"Physical infrastructure will be protected and maintained, and our operators are on the ground."
She said Natjoints would respond swiftly to anyone who intended to break the law.
"Don't test the state," she said.
"Freedom to protest is guaranteed, but it must be peaceful.
Meanwhile, the organisers listed starting points for the marches in cities across the country, all carrying the instruction that no weapons were allowed:
Security planners flagged several high-risk flashpoints ahead of the protests.
These included the Johannesburg CBD and Hillbrow, the N1, N3 and N12 freight corridors in Gauteng, Durban and Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, Mossel Bay, Kleinmond and Gansbaai in the Western Cape, and KuGompo City, formerly known as East London
The deadline has triggered an exodus of foreign nationals, many fleeing in fear and others lining up to be sent home.
Some hotspot areas
Image: IOL
In Cape Town, more than 2,000 Zimbabwean nationals are sheltering at the Cape Town Refugee Reception Centre, a home affairs building in Epping built to hold about 300, waiting to be repatriated.
They were moved there on Sunday after camping outside the Zimbabwean consulate in District Six for days, some for as long as five nights.
Among them was Jakes Chirwa, a 32-year-old Zimbabwean who had lived and worked in Makhanda for the past two years before moving to Knysna, where he earned a living as a cementer.
He had trekked to the consulate in Cape Town and was among those moved to Epping on Sunday morning, leaving without being able to fetch his girlfriend.
He said he was happy that he would see his two children and his mother in Zimbabwe if he was repatriated, but that he did not know how he would support them.
"I am a father," he said.
"I love my kids and I will die for my kids, but how will I provide for them?
"There are no jobs for us in Zimbabwe.
"After Mugabe we have no real president and nothing works in our country."
In Durban, the temporary repatriation site at the Old Drive-In was due to close on Tuesday, after about 7,000 undocumented Malawian nationals were bussed to a holding facility in Musina, Limpopo.
The eThekwini municipality said 58 buses had left the site on Monday and more on Tuesday morning, with only about 300 people still waiting.
"We remain committed to supporting the national government in ensuring that the repatriation process is carried out in a safe, dignified, and orderly manner," the municipality said.
In the Eastern Cape, the provincial government said about 700 foreign nationals, mainly Malawians, had been processed for repatriation in Jeffreys Bay and St Francis Bay.
Kouga mayor Hattingh Bornman said more than 1,000 foreign nationals had left the municipality ahead of Tuesday.
The St Francis Disaster Volunteer Group asked for R540,000 to fund two buses needed to repatriate Malawian nationals sheltering at Sea Vista Hall.
It said the Malawian embassy had exhausted all available funding and families were at risk of being left behind.
On Monday, scores of residents marched in Soweto in a final protest before the deadline, many carrying traditional weapons such as shields and sticks, from the Jabulani Amphitheatre to the Protea police station.
"We are losing our children to nyaope and unemployment while government fails to protect us from illegal immigrants," said Anna Dhlomo, a resident of Jabulani Hostel.
An organiser, Nkosikhona Ndabandaba, said more than 10,000 people had turned out and urged shopkeepers to stay open.
Major General Fred Kekana, the deputy provincial police commissioner in Gauteng, said the march was peaceful and under control.
"The people are marching, and of course, it's their right to march," he said.
"Even if after tomorrow, we are not going to stop operating and ensuring that the community is safe," he said.
In Germiston, a vigil in the form of a march began on Monday night, and similar vigil marches were held in other parts of the country.
In Limpopo, marchers were due to gather at the Tzaneen Show Grounds, in a province that had become a key corridor for the exodus, with thousands of Malawians bussed to a holding site at Musina, near the Beitbridge border.
In Mpumalanga, a march was planned in Emalahleni, where police had earlier arrested seven undocumented foreign nationals after uncovering an illegal alcohol operation in Ogies.
In the Northern Cape, marchers in Kimberley planned to walk from the Kemo Hotel to the premier's office.
In the Free State, where anti-immigrant protests in June were marred by looting, a march was set to begin at HA Smith in Kroonstad.
Police said they had arrested 15,384 people nationwide in operations between June 22 and 28, including 2,884 foreign nationals for immigration offences.
The arrests included 146 for murder, 111 for rape and more than 1,100 for assault, with police seizing 101 unlicensed firearms.
At the Beitbridge border post, a 39-year-old Malawian bus driver was arrested after officials allegedly found explosives worth R100,000 hidden in bags of rice.
Border Management Authority found four reels of detonating cord, and the driver, Gondwe Samson Tonne, was remanded in custody by the Musina magistrate's court.
"The NPA commends the Border Management Authority for its vigilance and dedication in safeguarding the country's ports of entry," said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Mashudu Malabi.
Provincial leaders appealed for calm.
Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane said Tuesday was business as usual, but warned that anyone who turned to violence, intimidation or incitement would be dealt with decisively.
Western Cape premier Alan Winde said his government had stepped up coordination to head off unrest.
"We have already seen tensions escalate, the Western Cape government has responded decisively by enhancing inter-agency coordination and implementing contingency plans to prevent any further social unrest," he said.
Both Nelson Mandela Bay and the Western Cape activated disaster joint operations centres to coordinate their response and keep the protests peaceful.
Business groups braced for disruption.
Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber spokesperson Sibongile Dimbaza said the prospect of disruptions had prompted a number of businesses to put precautionary measures in place.
"Several chamber members have indicated that they will be adjusting their operations for the day by avoiding identified protest routes, postponing or suspending out-of-town deliveries, limiting staff travel where appropriate and strengthening on-site security measures," Dimbaza said.
Labour lawyers warned that workers who stayed away could face the no-work, no-pay principle, because the shutdown was not a protected strike.
"The key message for the public is that tomorrow remains an ordinary working day," human rights attorney Yolanda Akram said.
Parliament urged street vendors and small traders, who could be among the most vulnerable if protests turned violent, to take precautions.
"No grievance can ever justify vandalism, intimidation, assault or any other form of criminal conduct," said Sonja Boshoff, who chairs Parliament's select committee on economic development and trade.
Trade union federation Cosatu and the Western Cape Coalition Against Xenophobia rejected the deadline and said it had fuelled chaos and violence.
"We reject with contempt the so-called June 30 deadline which has already caused so much chaos, suffering, and violence," Cosatu's Malvern de Bruyn said.
"The only crisis we have is a home affairs crisis," said Daniel Chuma of the coalition.
Migrants are estimated to make up fewer than four million of SA's roughly 63 million people, but have long been scapegoated for crime and joblessness amid an unemployment rate of more than 40%.
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