SANDF enters Hillbrow after self-defence shooting left two injured, as KZN police charge five for house robbery and tuck shop looting.
A member of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) walks on as armoured vehicles stand guard in Hillbrow, Johannesburg on June 30, 2026, after being deployed alongside the South African Police Service (SAPS) to help contain violent unrest. The deployment follows a wave of nationwide protests led by the March and March and Operation Dudula movements, marking an unofficial deadline set by citizen-led groups for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa. Thousands of demonstrators massed across South African cities on June 30, 2026, venting anger at undocumented foreign nationals as police mounted a major operation to head off looting and xenophobic violence that has claimed four lives. The nationwide protests cap weeks of demonstrations called by a loose coalition of minor political parties and small citizen-led vigilante groups, which set an unofficial June 30 deadline for foreigners without residency papers to leave. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was deployed to Hillbrow, Johannesburg, in the late evening on Tuesday and will also be deployed to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
Following a relatively peaceful day of protests against undocumented migrants, soldiers were deployed to Hillbrow after a car was torched.
SANDF sent to Hillbrow after car torched
According to reports, the vehicle was set on fire in retaliation after two people, including a 17-year-old, were shot and injured during the marches.
SABC reported that a man felt threatened when the protestors marched through the area and fired shots in self-defence.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni confirmed during an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration (IMC) media briefing in the evening that the SANDF was deployed for reinforcement.
“You need the higher level of skills and a higher level of resilience in the shadow of darkness,” she said.
Ntshavheni confirmed that the soldiers will also be deployed to keep the peace.
“There are no opportunist criminals that are going to be given room to operate,” she said.
Soliders also deployed in Durban
“We accept that South Africans have genuine grievances, and we allow them to march, and we express that marching in South Africa is a right, but there is no opportunity for criminality that will be allowed.”
During the briefing, the government commended citizens for peacefully protesting and said effective policing kept most protests peaceful.
The IMC chairperson and minister of justice and constitutional development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, commended community leaders, religious leaders and law enforcement for maintaining peace.
She said that despite isolated incidents of looting, the police are responding effectively.
In the early hours on Tuesday, the police arrested several people in connection with incidents of looting and attempted looting.
Later, the KwaZulu-Natal police confirmed that five more people were arrested for breaking into tuck shops owned by foreign nationals and stealing various items.
KZN arrests
Private security officers apprehended three suspects after they were found in the act of stealing. They were handed over to the police and then charged.
Two more suspects were arrested at Madiba informal settlement in Mountain Rise.
The fifth suspect was arrested at Thubalethu township in Melmoth for house robbery. He allegedly stormed into a homestead and threatened foreign nationals with a stick and stole their belongings.
Kubayi said the people arrested will face legal consequences.
The government also acknowledged the protestors’ concerns about economic opportunities, irregular migration, service delivery, and public safety.
Kubayi reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a comprehensive approach to migration management as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Inquest docket after foreigner jumped from building
Meanwhile, the KZN police have also opened an inquest docket after a foreign national allegedly jumped off a building and died.
Durban Central officers found a foreign national dead on Monday night after he allegedly jumped off the eighth floor of a building on Margaret Mncadi Avenue.
The Saps said that reports indicate that three foreign nationals had broken into a storage facility and were staying there for three days.
“On Monday night, they reportedly heard noises and concluded that they were being targeted. One of them jumped from the 8th floor and sustained broken limbs. He was declared dead at the scene,” the police said.
One of them ran away whilst the other remained.
