South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has cautioned South Africans against participating in the planned June 30 demonstrations.
Addressing the nation at the Youth Day commemoration in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa said it is the government’s responsibility to take action against anyone, including nationals from African sister countries who breaks the law.
“The so-called 30th of June in my view is not an event that is necessary because we are addressing the challenges that our people are facing. We must not allow South Africans to be duped and to be misled by those who want to foster instability in our country and we will not allow that,” he said.
The President assured the public that security forces would be deployed to prevent any disruption to daily life.
“So the security forces in our country are going to ensure that there will be no instability and there is no disruption of the lives of our people but government is continuing the interventions that we announced,” Ramaphosa stated.
He said the government was already addressing the socio-economic challenges raised by protest organisers, and urged citizens to pursue lawful processes instead of actions that risk peace and order.
The June 30 action has been promoted on social media by groups demanding faster government intervention on unemployment and service delivery, which they say foreigners, including Malawian nationals are benefiting from.
