S. Africa sets up operational centres to cope with xenophobia violence

South African police have activated Joint Operational Centres nationwide to cope with ongoing sporadic attacks and looting of foreign-owned shops, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, authorities said on Thursday.

These operational centres will ensure the strategic deployment of security forces for the purpose of counteracting and mitigating xenophobia violence that is sweeping parts of the country, National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega said in a statement.

The security forces will be closely monitoring the situation on the ground and people are warned that any person committing any acts of crime will be met with the full night of the law, Phiyega warned.

"We commend the manner in which the different provinces have responded to the unrest," she said.

It is hopeful that a solution will be found shortly, with all the support law enforcement authorities are receiving from national and provincial government departments, civil society and the community at large, she said.

This came after xenophobia violence spread from one place to another, with Johannesburg becoming the latest hotspot.

Overnight, there was a flare-up of violent attacks and looting in Jeppestown, Johannesburg. Six suspects have been arrested for public violence and housebreaking. The suspects allegedly broke into foreigners' shops and two people were injured in the process.

The situation remained tense on Thursday near Jeppe Hostel where the suspects were arrested.

There have also been reports of looting in Mountain Rise and Alexander Road in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal Province.

Police deployments are in place and the situation is being monitored, Phiyega said.

To enhance police response to the unrest, all the relevant role players at the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) reported for duty Wednesday night, according to Phiyega.

The centre from where they operating will be running on a 24- hour basis in order to coordinate law enforcement's response to the current wave of violent attacks on foreign nationals, she said.

"In order to improve our intelligence capacity, we have deployed additional operatives on the ground to gather information and assess its validity so as to direct our operational response," said Phiyega.

Whilst there are tensions in various parts of the country between some locals and foreign nationals, lawlessness will not be tolerated, she noted.

"We will continue to arrest and bring those involved in criminal acts to book," Phiyega added.

Violence initially erupted in KwaZulu-Natal late last month. Since then the situation has been brought under control in this province after the deployment of additional police personnel including members from the National Intervention Unit and various disciplines of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

This deployment led to the arrest of 74 people for offenses including murder, public violence, business robbery, theft and possession of firearms and ammunition, Phiyega said.

She also said, "While we rely on information of possible criminality, we want to urge people to refrain from spreading false information that violence is flaring up in areas when in fact it is not."

She urged all law abiding citizens to remain calm and to allow the security forces to do their work. Endi