Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli and provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi visited Durban’s central business district (CBD) to assess the damage following violent protests that erupted on Thursday.
During the protests, several buildings housing shops operated by foreign nationals were set alight. Vehicles parked outside the buildings were also torched, while shops were looted and vandalised.
The violence allegedly erupted in response to a Home Affairs directive concerning asylum seeker applications, which has since been withdrawn.
Speaking on Friday, Mkhwanazi said some of the unrest began after a fight between a South African and a foreign national.
“When the tensions of the people that were against foreign nationals and there’s a fight between South Africans and foreign nationals, it’s an obvious thing that the majority that are South African are going to favour their own countrymen or women without necessarily having to investigate who’s at fault but the mere fact that they see a foreigner attacking one of their own, they’re going to respond,” he said.
He added that people might later realise that the foreign national involved could have been acting in self-defence.
“The police responded to it and they’ve arrested people, we’ll see when it heads to court to explain exactly what transpired,” Mkhwanazi said.
Meanwhile, Ntuli said he would request the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in Durban to assist the police in restoring order in the city.
