South Africa’s (SA) Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says the government will ensure the Home Affairs Department’s withdrawal of the asylum seeker directive is properly communicated to the public.

Home Affairs withdrew the directive, issued on September 28, that expanded the intake of asylum seeker applications following a Constitutional Court judgment.

This led to violent protests in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape provinces, which resulted in 24 vehicles torched countrywide and properties vandalised.

Lesufi says, “To me, if the directives have been withdrawn, I would slightly agree with you that maybe we have not handled the communication very well; we don’t have to paint a picture. There’s a public representative, but you get protests, and then you react and that sends the wrong message. It means that in some instances, you have to do something wrong for the state to respond. I don’t think that’s the message we need to show.”

–SABC–