Ramaphosa says security forces will ensure stability on June 30

President Cyril Ramaphosa says security forces will ensure that there is no instability and disruption in the lives of citizens on the “so-called 30th of June″ deadline given to undocumented migrants to leave SA.

Speaking to journalists after his address at the June 16 commemoration in Soweto on Sunday, Ramaphosa said there were those who were trying to foster instability in the country. However, the government will not allow that, he stressed.

“The so-called 30th of June is not an event that is even necessary because we are addressing the challenges that our people are facing.

“We must not allow South Africans to be duped and misled by those who want to cause instability in the country. We will not allow that. Our security forces are going to ensure that there is no instability and no disruption to the lives of our people.”

According to Ramaphosa, there also seems to be an intention to destabilise the country by “those making a lot of noise about these marches”.

“A clear message is that we are not going to allow the grievances and the concerns of our people to be misused and abused by those who have nefarious intentions.

“Our people have heard the message and we are taking action and implementing interventions that are in the end going to address these issues.”

On Friday, World Health Organisation chair Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus referred to South Africans as xenophobic. In a statement he sent out on his X account, Ghebreyesus said it was “profoundly heartbreaking to witness another surge of xenophobic violence in South Africa”.

Ghebreyesus went on to say “at least five Ethiopians were killed earlier in the attacks and five Mozambicans died in Mossel Bay”.

“Thousands more are now fleeing for their lives. To see South Africa turn to xenophobia is a tragic betrayal of the country’s struggle for independence and freedom.”

However, Ramaphosa rejected the labelling of South Africans as xenophobic, saying there is a lot of disinformation aimed at tarnishing the image of SA despite having explained the challenge the country has with immigration.

“The one thing South Africans are not is xenophobic, and we are addressing their concerns,” he said.

According to Ramaphosa, his envoys will be going to various countries on the continent to deal specifically with disinformation with the position the government has taken on this issue.

According to political and governance researcher Ebrahim Fakir, things could turn out to be violent on June 30 as “SA is a violent country”, and that the state might fail to control the violence.

“However, the state tends to be an odd creature, it sometimes can look like it is in control and can combat this things and other times it completely fails when it comes to crime and other things.”

He also said the June 30 threat is not the same threat as the July 2021 riots which left 354 people dead and many businesses destroyed. “There is no charismatic national leader now who is actually having a hand in this,” said Fakir.

Security strategist Andy Mashaile shared the same sentiments as Fakir about the threats not being the same.

“The 2021 July unrest was informed by the imprisonment of one of their (protesters) leaders, and when you look at this one, the people are saying those who are in the country illegally must be deported or arrested.

Mashile believes there will be no violence on that day, as the marchers will want to demonstrate to government that they are not violent.

However, he said, things could go downhill quickly should security forces deployed by the state show aggression first

“Should the state shoot first, there will be chaos, and that chaos will inform serious problems for South Africa. Then the state will not be able to control the violence as a result of being the first mover.”

Sowetan