Thin blue line praised after orderly response nationwide
· Citizen
Experts say law enforcement’s handling of yesterday’s countrywide anti-immigrant protests was in a different league from the inept way the July 2021 insurrection was dealt with.
“Even though you cannot compare the 2021 unrest with what is happening today, the absence of leadership back then on all different levels was telling,” said Willem Els, senior criminologist from the Institute for Security Studies.
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Criminologists praise SA police coordination
“What we saw this time around was that the acting police minister acted proactively with his strategy, with the interventions and guidance. His communication with the public was effective, and the relevant stakeholders in the policing sector did a good job.
“That fostered public confidence in the police,” Els said.
“That they included the private sector, brought the security companies on board and the holistic approach as a strategy, went a long way to discourage the criminal elements and also the rogue elements within the prospective picketers and marchers.”
Another contributing factor to the peaceful marches was the readiness of the police, security, the deployment and the warnings from the police that the rule of law was paramount, he said.
The law enforcement agencies were ready as an incident in Worcester, Western Cape, showed when marchers tried to loot a shopping mall – like they did in 2021 – but they were dispersed and some were arrested. Consequences and consequence management were very important, Els added.
“It is everybody’s right to picket. They said it will be peaceful but, unfortunately, there will always be criminal elements that infiltrate. And once they then see an opportunity and start something, your crowd dynamics then develop.
‘Anything can still develop’
“We see some of the things that happened in 2021. So it can largely be contributed to the response from the state. But it’s early days… We can’t judge it just by what happened this morning.
“Anything can still develop.”
What was important was the communications from the government on how they’re going to address the grievances. Els said how the government resolved the issue would dictate the future.
“Depending on the outcome, marches might roll over to another day. We have to look at it and analyse it from hour to hour and from incident to incident.
“But currently, South Africa is well prepared. It is well contained and we must give praise where praise is due,” Els said.
Mike Bolhuis, a specialist investigator said: “The protest went very well today. It was one of the best days, if we can call it that – a day that was identified to be an extreme disaster.
Govt readiness and public cooperation made protests controlled
“So it’s the best day of all the disasters that we have yet gone through.
“It was under extreme control by the government. There was good safety and security services from government and private security, and from the public everywhere in place,” Bolhuis said.
“However, the biggest compliment goes to the public; to those who went on marches.
“Small incidents happened where there was no proper control. But the main march was very well controlled.”
Witness Maluleke, senior criminologist from University of Limpopo, also commended the police for a job well done.
“I witnessed visibility of police in the inner central business district (CBD) of Johannesburg, Polokwane and Pretoria.
Police ‘did a good job’
“However, active participation of protesters was seen in some parts of the CBD, including the outskirts, but they were peaceful. I saw police members doing a walkabout without being troubled by the much-anticipated March and March.
“Overall, it seems like everything is under control, no injuries or infringement of human rights are reported,” Maluleke said.
“The organisers of the marches are commended for keeping their promises and ensuring that human life is protected irrespective of our differences and for sending a clear message without initiating violence.”