Police vow arrests after 24 cars torched outside Home Affairs offices in Soweto and Durban

Acting national police commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane has warned that those behind this week’s unrest outside Department of Home Affairs offices will be arrested and prosecuted, after 24 vehicles were torched in Soweto and Durban.

Ten cars were set alight in Soweto and 14 in Durban during protests outside Home Affairs offices that assist asylum seekers. Shops belonging to foreign nationals were looted, and three foreign nationals have been arrested. In Soweto, Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said one person had been arrested over a looting incident and urged residents not to take part in criminal activity.

As CapeTown ETC reported on 9 October, Dimpane said the right to protest does not give anyone permission to commit a crime. “Those behind the torching of vehicles will be pursued,” she said. “Those responsible for acts of violence and destruction will be identified, investigated and, where sufficient evidence exists, arrested and brought to book.”

Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesperson Xolani Fihla told SABC News that the violence in Soweto reportedly escalated after shots were fired towards protesters. “From the reports that we are receiving on the ground, there were shots that were fired allegedly towards the protesters, and this led to the retaliation and them burning vehicles within the area,” he said. He confirmed no injuries had been reported at the time and said officers remained on the ground as tensions subsided. Khumalo Road, near the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, was closed to traffic.

The unrest follows a Constitutional Court ruling in July that refugees and asylum seekers must be given access to the asylum application process, regardless of whether they entered South Africa illegally. Home Affairs then instructed refugee reception offices to accept anyone who reports in person and indicates an intention to apply for asylum. A notice stated that “every refugee reception office must, with immediate effect, receive every person who reports in person and indicates an intention to apply for asylum, and must assist that person to lodge an application.” No reception office, the notice said, could enforce a policy or quota preventing access to the process.

Protests have been driven by residents opposed to the presence of undocumented foreign nationals, with some claiming the directive allows them to remain without restriction. Violence was also reported in Gqeberha, where police reportedly used stun grenades to disperse residents allegedly disrupting queues of foreign nationals at Home Affairs offices.

Dimpane was blunt about the limits of protest. “The right to raise concerns and to protest does not give anyone the right to commit crime,” she said. “Legitimate grievances must be pursued through lawful and constitutional processes.” She added that anyone who breaks the law would be dealt with decisively, without fear or favour.

For South Africans watching from outside the flashpoints, the practical effects were already visible on Thursday: a main road closed in Orlando West, police vehicles and officers on standby in two city centres, and shopkeepers assessing damage. The state’s response has been to keep officers on the ground, make arrests and publicly commit to prosecutions. What happens next turns on whether those investigations produce charges, and on whether the tension around Home Affairs offices cools or flares again.

Source: CapeTown ETC, Watch: Soweto, Durban unrest: police vow action after 24 cars torched and shops looted.