Durban - Using the experience of the riots of July 2021 and last year’s floods, Durban’s security fraternity, private and public, is on high alert should Monday’s shutdown turn violent.
Community organisations ‒ from the Merewest Community Foundation in the south of the city to Durban North and Greenwood Park’s community policing forums in the north ‒ have mobilised in close liaison with the South African Police Service and the metro police.
Communications have stressed the importance of acting within the law, while the EFF, drivers of the protest, have denied inciting violence.
However, provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Police Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi yesterday warned that police “will be in combat mode”. Civilian bodies will call on them to take action when necessary and they will have military back-up, (which was deployed late during the July 2021 insurrection that saw mass looting).
KwaZulu-Natal EFF chair Mongezi Twala said they “won’t fold our arms if the state and private sector provoke us”.
In North Durban, volunteers and police in a high-tech operational community centre will keep a hawk’s eye on security cameras placed in strategic positions and a professionally-piloted drone will provide an “eye in sky”. Neighbourhood watches will be patrolling on the ground. The Greater Together Foundation, a philanthropic fundraising service formed after the July 2021 riots to assist the local security sector, has been instrumental in setting it up.
In the Highway area, Hillcrest CPF said it felt prepared, with residential and shopping areas among those secured. One of its most vulnerable spots was the Mariannhill Toll Plaza where looting was common and criminal opportunists might be a problem, said spokesman Lester Jones.
The Road Freight Association has called on members to minimise freight operations on the day.
Kloof CPF’s Samantha Shallcross said that if panic was reduced, half the battle was won.
Merewest Community Forum, which fine-tuned its disaster plans after the floods, has emphasised its “do’s and don’ts” from the handbook it has provided to residents, said deputy chairperson Burton Jaganathan.
KwaMashu CPF chairperson Lethuxolo Hlatswayo said it was on alert to avoid a repeat of July 2021.
Phoenix, which experienced violence in the July 2021 insurrection, has the status of a hot spot on Monday, said Mkhwanazi.
At a media briefing yesterday Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC and chair of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster, Sipho Hlomuka, said additional deployments would augment the existing 18 000 SAPS members in the province.
“Deployments will be made in areas which are perceived to be more fragile and seen as hot spots, including National Key Points. Normal policing will continue at police stations as members of the public will be serviced as usual.
“As part of the deployment, we will have members of the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI), Public Transport Enforcement Services (PTES), eThekwini Metro and other municipal traffic officials who will be managing all strategic points,” Hlomuka said.
He added that the Department of Community Safety and Liaison would add 1 400 volunteers in all districts to assist in monitoring the situation and feed the information to the police.
“The government will also be deploying resources such as helicopters, vehicles, Nyalas, water cannons, and technology as part of monitoring the planned protests and securing the people,” he said.
Anxiety began to run high in Phoenix after EFF leader Julius Malema said in an interview this week that protesters would respond if residents provoked them.
Sham Maharaj of the Phoenix Ubuntu Forum, formed after July 2021, said a service had been set up for residents to verify information in an effort to filter out inaccuracies on social media.
He also said entrances and exits would be monitored “with a number of ground rules” for those manning them in the hope of calming things down.
He cautioned against fake news and “giving Malema the publicity he wants”.
Mkhwanazi said that if the EFF’s threatening talk turned into action, they would be charged.
"We are building up a docket already. Fortunately for us, they said it in public already, so it's on record,” he said.
He added that announcements that “people will not be able to move, institutions will close amounts to anarchy. We feel that this is an attempt to overthrow the government to some degree.
“No permission for the protests has yet been received.”
As far as the EFF’s Twala is concerned, claims that Malema was calling for violence were distortions and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government’s failure to give people the right to access to water and a reliable energy supply justified its strategy.
“Enough is enough. The government is taking us for a ride. The enemy cannot determine our agenda and approach,” he said.
Twala added that although Santaco, the South African National Taxi Council, had declared Monday to be “business as usual”, he said drivers, as opposed to owners, may individually support the shut down.
In 2021, the taxi industry was instrumental in putting a stop to the looting.
Twala also claimed that certain businesses had shown support for the more radical approach and agreed to close on Monday to allow employees to join the protests.
eThekwini Municipality has said municipal services will be available and employees were expected to report for duty.
“The city has just emerged from consecutive calamities that battered its economy and that of the country,” said Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.
“Under no circumstances will we allow the shutdown of economic activities, no matter the gravity of the grievances.
“While peaceful protests are allowed, we have a responsibility to protect those who are not part of this shutdown, and it is their right to be protected. Anyone undermining the authority of the state shall face the full might of the law and we shall not relent in this regard,” he said.
The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the shutdown had the potential to not only derail, but further harm an economy that is currently in critical condition.
“Businesses are trying to survive, and some are trying to resume their business operations following the 2021 July unrest and April/May 2022 floods, even with the current state of the economy due to the energy, water, and sanitation crisis,” said president Prasheen Maharaj.
“We believe a crisis cannot be resolved by using the proposed approach of a shutdown. Ours is to preserve the economy and protect the sustainability of businesses.
“The threat of a national shutdown has the potential to encourage acts of violence and potential vandalism on property and businesses, which is unlawful. Technically, it’s also a form of intimidation in the highest degree, displaying an intention to commit violence and intimidation is a criminal offence,” he said.
Maharaj added that intimidation tactics being driven and displayed by the EFF via video, enforcing and threatening businesses to shut down, were unconstitutional and were infringing on human rights.
“This cannot be allowed, nor must it be tolerated in a democratic country like ours.
“We firmly believe if left unchecked and not acted upon by the government with urgency, it will send out the wrong message and give criminals the ‘licence’ to loot, intimidate and destroy,” he said.
The Independent on Saturday