The police are planning to tighten their crackdown on “Dudula groupings” who continue to take the law into their own hands by evicting alleged illegal immigrants operating as street vendors in Johannesburg townships.
This comes as a heavy police presence foiled a planned township shutdown and several members of the Alexandria Dudula Movement, whose standoff with foreign nationals turned violent on Monday, were arrested. Some members continued to burn tyres on Tuesday morning.
Joburg district police commissioner Maj-Gen Max Masha said the five people arrested faced public violence charges and that more arrests were on the cards if the Operation Dudula campaign continued.
Masha said while the police recognised concerns raised by the groups as valid, law enforcement would no longer tolerate lawless behaviour by supporters of the Dudula campaign who took the law into their own hands.
“They must leave that job to us as the police and we will do it with other departments, like home affairs, and there will be no need for these movements going forward,” he said.
The police have been accused of being lenient towards illegal immigrants, forcing communities to take action.
Masha said only legal traders were allowed to return to trade, and that illegal immigrants had to first sort out their documentation before returning to street vending.
“Obviously they need to go to home affairs and their embassies first to get the documents because that [illegal trading] will not be tolerated,” Masha said.
While the police gave their assurance that it was safe to trade once again, traders remained sceptical about returning to the pavements of Watts Avenue, where the eviction of foreign nationals resulted in local residents taking up vending spaces last month.
One SA informal trader who returned to pack her goods, who identified herself as Agnes, said she was concerned that the violence would return to the area when the multidisciplinary police team left the township.
“I have been selling fruit and vegetables here for years but when there are fights I cannot work. Even yesterday [Monday] people decided not to come,” she said.
With several shops having been temporarily forced to close by the group on Monday, Amnesty International SA called for action against groups that targeted foreign nationals.
Its executive director Shenilla Mohamed said the groups were vigilantes who had been allowed to harass foreign nationals.
“It is astounding that these groups have been allowed to take the law into their own hands and that authorities have not stepped in to stop the harassment of migrants. This did not only start this week but has been an ongoing problem,” Mohamed said.
SA National Civic Organisation regional secretary Mpho Sesedinyane expressed concern that a large part of the economic hub was in the hands of illegal immigrants who had “occupied strategic spaces”, resulting in clashes with locals who were also frustrated by the lack of economic opportunities.
“This has resulted in black-on-black violence in the form of #OperationDudula right under the noses of those elected to lead and govern. We call on the municipality as well as the provincial government to intervene in this conflict and provide leadership in this matter,” he said.
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