Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia
PRETORIA - Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia said the R600 million spent on policing the 30 June demonstrations is justified.
He was speaking during an update by the inter-ministerial committee in Pretoria.
Government has faced criticism for allocating hundreds of millions of rand to security during protests against undocumented immigrants ahead of the 30 June demonstrations.
“The money was well spent on June 30th.
“What conversation would we have been having had we had a repeat now? Massive destruction of property, maximum destruction of lives, as we saw in June 2021? We did not have a repeat.
“So I think it's time to recognise that the country did well on 30 June, that our law enforcement agencies did exceptionally well. We had the support of the army and we had the support of the intelligence agencies. The South African Police Service demonstrated what they can achieve by acting within the framework of our Constitution.”