By Anita Dangazele
- The SAPS says it will protect the right to march peacefully on 30 June 2026, after arresting 15,384 people nationwide in a week-long operation.
- Among those arrested were 2,884 foreign nationals, 146 murder suspects and a woman caught at OR Tambo airport with 28 suspected cocaine pellets inside her body.
Tomorrow, thousands of South Africans are expected to take to the streets in cities across the country to protest against illegal immigration. In the seven days before that march, the police were already moving.
Between 22 and 28 June 2026, the South African Police Service arrested 15,384 people during nationwide Shanela II operations. Among them were 2,884 foreign nationals detained for contravening the Immigration Act, 146 murder suspects and 136 people arrested for attempted murder. Police also arrested 111 people for rape and seized 101 unlicensed firearms.
Acting National Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane said the SAPS will protect the constitutional right to protest peacefully while keeping all South Africans safe.
The operations went beyond immigration. On Friday, 26 June 2026, a 23-year-old South African woman was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport on drug trafficking charges. She was on her way to Tokyo, Japan, when police stopped her. By the time of the SAPS statement, she had released 28 bullet-like objects suspected to contain cocaine. The value of the drugs had not yet been confirmed.
At the Beitbridge Port of Entry, the Border Management Authority intercepted a Malawian man travelling on a bus from Malawi with explosive cables worth an estimated R100,000 hidden inside a bag of rice. The Hawks and the SAPS Bomb Disposal Unit were called in. The man was detained at Musina Police Station in Limpopo. Investigations into where the cables were going and who sent them are continuing.
In Durban, police locked down streets in the Point area on 20 June 2026, closing businesses found to be operating without permits and detaining foreign nationals for immigration checks.
The SAPS said the Durban operation was also meant to show that police in KwaZulu-Natal are ready to keep order during tomorrow’s march.
Pictured above: South African police conduct stop-and-search operations ahead of the 30 June 2026 national immigration protests.
Image source: SAPS
