JOHANNESBURG - Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has made it clear that 30 June will be treated as a normal day, urging workers to report for duty as usual.
Kubayi was speaking at the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Migration briefing on Friday, where she reiterated that the planned demonstrations were not a national shutdown.
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This means businesses will not shut down, and those operating in the transport sector will continue as normal.
“We do not recognise the 30th as a shutdown day or an off day. For those who are working, if you do not go to work, you are not going to get paid because you would have absconded from work,” she said.
Kubayi's remarks come on the back of a planned, unofficial nationwide protest facilitated by anti-illegal-immigration groups calling for undocumented migrants to leave South Africa.
Organisers of the 30 June demonstrations said their objective is to demand the government's enforcement of immigration laws.
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While they have maintained that demonstrations will be peaceful, saying their action is about accountability and respect for the law, not violence or disruption, law enforcement authorities maintained that it would be all hands on deck.
In the same breath, Kubayi warned that any acts of intimidation, violence, or disruption would be met with the full force of the law.
“Enforcement of the law is the responsibility of the State. Thus, we are ready as a State to protect every person, citizens and foreign nationals, against any form of abuse and intimidation,” Kubayi said.