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Recent incidents of criminal activity that have occurred in the Kya Sands informal settlements have been largely incorrectly labelled as xenophobia. Commencing on the night of Sunday July 11, sporadic incidents of damage to private property and assaults have taken place resulting in considerable local and international media coverage.

After initial concerns of the re emergence of xenophobic tendencies, it would appear that mostly criminal elements have taken advantage of the recent media concerns of post world cup xenophobia. At the time of the compiling of this article there have been no known fatalities and only a relatively small number of injuries resulting from such disturbances.

From the moment the unrest began, the Douglasdale SAPS backed by considerable support from SAPS Province and the SAPS Air Wing, have maintained a strong presence in KyaSands patrolling the area and engaging in widespread community consultation and discourse with the objective of calming community members and identifying trouble makers and issues and, where appropriate, effecting arrests and conducting investigations.

By engaging the community at all levels and showing substantial pro activity, as well as the involvement of Government in the form of the MEC for Safety and Security as well as the MEC for Housing, amongst a number of NGOs and senior SAPS Commanders such as Major General Reddy and Brigadier Naidoo, and the Douglasdale Community Police Forum, at this stage it appears that by and large normality has been restored to Kya Sands.

A detailed threat assessment has been carried out and one of the interesting results was that most of the unrest occurred in areas where the overhead lighting supplied by City Council was inoperative. The repair and activation of the overhead lighting has been given top priority by City Power and all lighting systems are operational again providing street lighting to the Kya Sands community.

Not to leave anything to chance, considerable numbers of South African National Defence Force personnel have been deployed in support of the SAPS and Metro Police units.

Patrols and community engagement shall continue and no stone shall be left unturned to ensure the safety of all community members so that they may go about their daily lives in an ordinary manner and that the rule of law is maintained and respected by all community members.