SAPS says Operation Dudula tried to intimidate foreigners – the heads of state at G20 Summit
Police have arrested two members of Operation Dudula, men aged 48 and 54, and charged them for crimes including public violence, assaulting a police officer, and breaching a court order.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has opened several cases against the anti-immigrant activist group Operation Dudula after a fracas near the Johannesburg Expo Centre, where President Cyril Ramaphosa and world leaders are attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
IOL reported earlier that protesters, including members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party and Operation Dudula, had gathered near the heavily fortified summit venue, demanding to speak to President Ramaphosa and international delegates.
SAPS national spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed that two Operation Dudula members were arrested following the confrontation.
Police have arrested two members of Operation Dudula, men aged 48 and 54, and charged them for crimes including public violence, assaulting a police officer, and breaching a court order.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
“We had identified four speakers’ corners where all these interest groups can actually go and air their grievances and so on. But with this particular protest, it turned unruly, because the group, the Dudula members, were actually forcefully marching towards the venue. In doing so, they were then attempting to blockade the Baragwanath and Nasrec roads, which are key routes utilized by the heads of state, the dignitaries, to actually access this particular venue," Mathe said in an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
“So we have arrested two of them, a 48-year-old man and a 54-year-old man. We have charged them with public violence, assaulting of a police officer because during the scuffle when they were resisting to go back to the speakers’ corner, they were throwing objects and they even pepper sprayed police officers and so on. We had one police officer that was then taken to hospital for further medical care.”
She said the key grievance brought by Operation Dudula was “the everyday issue on illegal foreign nationals in the country”.
Mathe said the activists’ actions violated a recent court order against Operation Dudula.
“You will recall that there was a court order handed down to them, that bars them from intimidating and harassing foreign nationals and so on. So the third charge against them is contravention of that very court order, because in attempting to blockade the road that actually leads here, it actually means you are harassing, you are intimidating the foreign national heads of state that are here, and the foreign national dignitaries that are attending this particular event.”
Teargas and pepper spray used to disperse protesters
Officers deployed teargas and pepper spray to disperse the protesters, while water cannons were also on standby at the scene.
Videos circulating on social media showed Operation Dudula leader Zandile Dabula sitting in a vehicle, rubbing her eyes after being caught in a cloud of chemical agents.
Dabula accused police of using excessive force against South Africans while failing to act firmly against criminals.
“The sad thing is that the force they are showing to us as South Africans, they can’t show it to criminals. That is why we are having the Madlanga Commission today,” Dabula said.
“When they are supposed to do the right thing to the criminals, they don’t do it. Some of us are arrested for fighting crime — for fighting illegality that is happening in the country.”
Dabula alleged that the police officers were corrupt and working against citizens.
“We took people who are illegal in the country to the police station, and some of our members were arrested. What’s the job of the police if they can’t protect citizens? They are working against us — they are corrupt. Because we don’t have R20 to give a bribe, that is how they behave. We know their agenda, and it’s not going to work,” she said.
Operation Dudula picketing outside the G20 Leaders Summit venue in Nasrec.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
Protesters restricted from G20 venue
A leader of the group wearing MK regalia told IOL that protesters had been restricted to an area nearly a kilometre from the summit venue.
“The whole point of picketing is to ensure that we send a strong message to the dignitaries attending the G20,” the leader said. “The situation is that we are placed almost a kilometre away from the Nasrec Expo Centre, whereas Section 17 of the Constitution allows us to protest — to picket at least 100 metres away.”
He said protesters were frustrated at being confined to an area far from the world leaders they wanted to address.
“Here we are placed in front of ordinary traffic, people going to Southgate Mall. It is not them we want to talk to. The people we want to talk to are President Ramaphosa and all the dignitaries attending the G20 Summit. What SAPS is doing is actually unfair, and they are depriving us of our constitutional rights.”
Some Operation Dudula activists said they were prepared to be arrested if necessary.
“If they want to shoot us, they must shoot us,” one activist said defiantly.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL News