Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma of March and March accuses Minister Gayton McKenzie of fearmongering ahead of planned protests.
Image: OUPA MOKOENA Independent Newspapers
Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, leader of the anti-immigrant group March and March, has launched a scathing attack on Patriotic Alliance (PA) president and Minister of Sport, Arts, and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, accusing him of "fearmongering" and abandoning the very constituency that propelled him into political prominence.
The war of words follows a fiery Facebook Live address by McKenzie, in which he strictly ordered PA members to distance themselves from the upcoming June 30 demonstrations organised by March and March.
McKenzie warned that any party member caught participating in vigilante acts or assaulting undocumented foreign nationals would face immediate expulsion, stating bluntly: “We want nothing to do with March and March... I am not a leader who wants to be fashionable like [ActionSA leader Herman] Mashaba by leading my people to jail.”
Responding to the minister, Ngobese-Zuma accused McKenzie of political amnesia and selective silence.
She revealed that Teresa Nortje—a March and March member and local PA leader—had allegedly been brutally assaulted on the streets by foreign nationals and subjected to death threats, with a case currently pending. According to Ngobese-Zuma, neither McKenzie nor the PA leadership offered Nortje any form of defence or solidarity.
"You, Gayton, didn’t say a single thing; you offered her no support nor did anyone from the PA! Teresa has suffered death threats and had a gun pulled out for her... and you did not even bother yourself with defending her," Ngobese-Zuma charged.
March and March has firmly rejected McKenzie’s insinuation that the June 30 mobilisations are a precursor to xenophobic violence.
Ngobese-Zuma pointed out that the organisation coordinates demonstrations on a near-daily basis without incident, arguing that if violence were their objective, they would have acted already. She accused the government of manufacturing panic to protect their new positions of power.
"Now you are claiming March and March said they will be violent on the 30th? When did you ever hear us say anything about violence? Because it’s you as government that are the fearmongers," she said.
The public spat marks a severe rupture in what had previously been a cordial relationship between the PA and grassroots anti-immigration structures. Ngobese-Zuma suggested that McKenzie’s elevation to a cabinet minister post has distorted his political identity, causing him to ignore systemic issues plaguing local communities.
She questioned why the Minister has gone silent on high-profile issues that originally formed the bedrock of his political platform, including the drug trade, child trafficking, and the recent spate of child fatalities linked to contaminated goods from local spaza shops.
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