Police: No overnight attacks in Kya Sands

There were no overnight incidents of violence at Kya Sands informal settlement north of Johannesburg where 16 people, mostly foreign nationals, have been attacked in the past two days, Gauteng police said on Wednesday.

“I can confirm that everything is quiet, peaceful, and there were no incidents overnight,” said Brigadier Govindsamy Mariemuthoo.

“We have heavy police presence in the area. And the area is quiet.”

Police had earlier said that 11 violent incidents were reported on Tuesday.

Five of the victims were South African, four Zimbabwean and two were from Mozambique.

The crimes ranged from assault and house breaking to theft. A total of 10 people had been arrested by Tuesday afternoon.

Five people—four of whom were foreign nationals—were taken to hospital after they were attacked in their shacks between Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

Tension building
Tensions have long been building between South Africans and millions of foreign migrants they accuse of taking jobs and homes, but open animosity appeared to be put on hold during the World Cup as South Africa showed its best face to the world.

A spate of attacks on foreign workers in 2008 killed 62 people and damaged investor confidence. Another wave could wreck the positive image that Africa’s biggest economy was able to portray during the soccer tournament.

Late on Tuesday, the army was deployed to the area. This was after Gauteng provincial community safety minister Khabisi Mosunkutu had denied they were needed.

“We have assessed the situation thoroughly and the police are able to handle it well. There is no need for the army to be deployed,” Mosunkutu said on Tuesday afternoon.

Mosunkutu said the attacks were purely criminal activities, and were not xenophobia-related.

“It’s just a group of people carrying out criminal activities; they are failing because we have arrested most of them.

“We will not tolerate crime of any nature, all the perpetrators will be brought to book. Crime will be defeated,” Mosunkutu said.

Hours later, eight army armoured vehicles were lined up on the road to Kya Sands with soldiers preparing to enter extension three of the informal settlement.

Provincial Community Safety spokesperson Sizwe Matshikiza denied that the deployment of the army had earlier been ruled out.

“My understanding of what the [provincial minister] had said is that all law enforcement including the army get deployed after careful consideration.

‘Army deployed to complement police’
“He had also wanted to indicate the confidence we had in the SA police service,” he said.

Matshikiza added that discussions around a possible deployment were not made public.

“Deployment to specific situations are not discussed publicly,” he said.

Matshikiza said that the army had been deployed to “complement” the police on a specific operation.

“There was a targeted operation. There were criminals who were identified and sought out. The army was helping on that specific situation.”—Sapa