It's Operation Buya Mthetho.
Chairperson, the initial answer I gave is that we have what is called a ministerial executive committee, which is usually known as minmac ... [Inaudible.] ... where we all as MECs come together and have the specifics from the provinces. One of those will be gangsterism down in Cape Town. In Gauteng ...
... impi iphezulu [the battle is on.] In Gauteng there are people that just want to take over the country. In Kwazulu-Natal there are people who believe that they will sort out their problems with political killings. In the Free State there are those that are taking over mines. They believe ...
IsiZulu:
... ukuthi izimayini ezabo ...
English:
... in the Free State and a little bit in Gauteng and Mpumalanga. In Mpumalanga a new mine opened and people came with guns and their machines and said,
IsiZulu:
... sekungeyethu le mayini.
English:
So these kinds of operations will be informed by specifics in that particular area. In the Western Cape we started with Operation Thunder. We brought officers from outside this province. There were 178 of them. We brought cars and we brought extra equipment. That was before we created the antigang unit. By the way, a decision has
been taken that the antigang unit is going to be a national phenomenon. It's going to be national units because there are gangsters in other areas.
Gauteng, which is the economic hub of the Republic of South Africa
... we want to deal with crime and also help with the growth of the economy as a stimulus contribution of the SAPS. We haven't calculated but we believe that the illicit kind of trade that is going on there is in the billions, and as the SAPS we are not going to take a back seat with regard to that.
What people don't know is that this operation in Gauteng is ... daily. It's everyday. There is no day where that provincial commissioner is not leading these operations. However, what made people notice was those naughty foreign nationals that threw stones at the police and chased them away. Everybody complained that the police were cowards.
Aikona, [No] they are technical police. They are not cowards. Those police could have caused damage there and today everybody would be adding on Marikana. It would be Marikana and the central business district, CBD. They withdrew and they did their work properly.
IsiZulu:
Babuya kodwa.
English:
It was Wednesday when the thing happened. The following Thursday ...
IsiZulu:
... abuya amaphoyisa.
English:
As everybody knows, they went back. They went back. We had five articulated trucks. Articulated trucks are these huge trucks that they turn with ... you call ...
IsiZulu:
... amankonyana.
English:
These things they pull. They were packed, packed, packed with fake illegal goods in the country. We went to the building. We found guns; some made in Israel. I don't think our army and police use any guns made in Israel. They were there.
We went to one area where we found these big containers full of illegal alcohol. We went and found piles and piles of poison. When we sent it to our laboratories they said if it touches your body you die. We don't know why it was there. On that day 640 people were arrested. I visited them in the central ... Our cells were packed, packed, packed. I asked them why they stoned the police. They said it was not the Somalians; it was Ethiopians. The Ethiopians said it was not Ethiopians; it was Somalians.
We processed them. They were taken to courts. A total of 320 were completely illegal. ... never seen a piece of document to be here. Most of them ... expired and all ... some of them ... legal. All those who were legal were released to go back to continue with their businesses. However, those who were not legal were taken by the courts of law to Lindela so that they are put on trains to go back ... If they come back legally, we as the SAPS have nothing to do, but if they are illegal we have all to do.
Well, I'm told ... I've heard that the Human Rights ... has a problem with sending them back. I never heard them having a problem when the police were stoned. I never heard ... a problem when the police were stoned. So, it was within the laws of the Republic of South Africa that we had to act, and act decisively.
We are continuing. The next day we were in Boksburg. The following day we were in Carletonville. We were in Kagiso. We are all over. We are trying with this illicit business ... trying to have a quick turnaround ... dealing with these matters.
Other provinces ... One province that has already acted on it is the Eastern Cape. All other provinces are preparing to do what Gauteng is doing, which is proactive and ... preventative measures in dealing with the crime situation in the Republic of South Africa. Thank you. [Applause.]