South Africa’s Ramaphosa orders 510 soldiers to KwaZulu-Natal after asylum ruling violence

JOHANNESBURG — President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorized the deployment of 510 soldiers to KwaZulu-Natal province, where violence recently erupted in Durban, South Africa’s third-most-populated city, over a court ruling on asylum seekers, the presidency said Tuesday.

The deployment, part of a joint police-military operation known as Operation Prosper, expands an existing intervention to combat gang violence and illegal mining. It comes ahead of the country’s Nov. 4 local government elections and will run through the end of November, at an estimated cost of about 34 million rand ($2 million).

The presidency said the deployment followed “recent violent actions arising from a campaign of misinformation” about the Constitutional Court ruling that removed procedural barriers for people seeking asylum in South Africa. Soldiers will stand by to support the police.

Protests in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng on Oct. 8 opposed the court’s decision. They followed months of anti-immigrant tensions, with demonstrators demanding the deportation of foreigners living in South Africa illegally.

In Durban, which has become a hotspot for the anti-immigrant tensions that have surged this year, riot police were deployed to the city center as shops owned by foreign nationals were looted, according to state broadcaster SABC.

The presidency said the military deployment began the day after the clashes.

Also in Durban, police said a foreign national was beaten to death by a group of about 50 people during a march in the city center last week.

Military deployments to support police are not new in South Africa, with soldiers previously sent to tackle gang violence in 2019 and illegal mining in 2023. This year, it deployed soldiers in March to help police combat gang violence and illegal mining, with major operations beginning on March 11 in Johannesburg’s Riverlea and Westbury neighborhoods.

That broader deployment, also under Operation Prosper, was authorized to run until March 31, 2027, across five provinces: Gauteng, the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State and North West.

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