JOHANNESBURG - The ANC has commended South Africans who remained peaceful during the anti-migrant demonstrations on 30 June.
Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says addressing irregular migration is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies and that they should be allowed to do their job.
"We have said it before, and we say it again. The enforcement of immigration law is the work of the democratic state and the state alone.
"No more, no more much and no self-appointed commander may take that power into their own hands," he said.
"The ANC salutes the calm and courage of ordinary South Africans of every origin who chose peace over the petrol pump. But enforcement alone will never resolve what is in truth a continental question.
"No single country acting on its own can answer a movement of people that the whole of Africa is living through. Our continent carries the largest stock of intra-African migration in the world relative to its population."
Mbalula also praised police for keeping things calm on 30 June, maintaining that the planned national shutdown failed to disrupt daily life.
He says businesses were open, public transport was running and most South Africans were going about their normal routines.
Mbalula emphasised that immigration law enforcement remains a government responsibility.