March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma has announced that supporters will take to the streets every Thursday until the government takes action to remove undocumented immigrants from South Africa.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo/ANA Studio
March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma has announced that supporters will take to the streets every Thursday until the government takes action to remove undocumented immigrants from South Africa.
Addressing protesters outside SAPS Point in Durban on Tuesday after thousands marched through the city, Ngobese-Zuma said the campaign would continue weekly until government responded to their demands.
"For as long as they haven't left, we are marching every Thursday," she told supporters.
She also warned that if authorities continued deploying large numbers of police officers to monitor the demonstrations, the cost to the state would continue to rise.
"We hope government has budget for another R600 million," she said, adding that the continued presence of undocumented immigrants would require ongoing security operations.
Ngobese-Zuma further alleged that drugs were being sold openly in some communities, saying criminal activity linked to undocumented immigration remained a major concern for supporters of the movement.
Tuesday's march came after the June 30 deadline set by the March and March movement for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa.
Her remarks came after thousands of protesters marched through Durban on Tuesday, calling for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa.
March and March had previously set June 30 as the deadline for undocumented immigrants to leave the country voluntarily.
Ahead of the march, the organisation pledged that the demonstration would remain peaceful and would not result in violence, looting or loss of life.
Speaking to thousands of supporters, Ngobese-Zuma said people from different racial and cultural backgrounds had united to call on government to address what she described as the impact of irregular migration on South Africa.
"Thousands of our people have gathered across the length and breadth of our country, united in their diversity – White, Black, Indian, Coloured, Xhosa, Tsonga, Tswana, Swati, Zulu and all the indigenous people of our country longing for a safe and prosperous South Africa."
She said the movement had spent the past 17 months travelling across the country raising awareness about irregular migration and claimed South Africans were facing growing economic hardship, high unemployment and increasing pressure on public services.
Ngobese-Zuma said youth unemployment remained above 40% and argued that South Africans were struggling to access healthcare, education and other public services because government resources were under strain.
She claimed that undocumented foreign nationals were benefiting from services intended for South Africans, while alleging that medication was being taken out of the country and that criminal networks were contributing to the spread of drugs in local communities.
"Our youth is the future of this country and we must all rise to protect our future," she said.
Ngobese-Zuma rejected accusations that the movement was driven by xenophobia, insisting it was campaigning for the social and economic wellbeing of South Africans and for what she described as "true and real Pan-Africanism".
"This is not xenophobia and it is not ethnic mobilisation. It is a fight for the social well-being of South Africa in particular and Africa in general," she said.
She also argued that employers were failing to comply with South African labour laws governing the employment of foreign nationals.
Ngobese-Zuma cited the Employment Services Act, saying employers could only employ foreign nationals with valid work visas after establishing that no suitably qualified South Africans were available for the jobs.
"Does South Africa not have people who can work in restaurants? Why are we wanting our people not to be employed? We want them to run successful businesses. Where is the xenophobia in that?"
Ngobese-Zuma further claimed that sectors including farming, restaurants, fuel stations, clothing and textiles, trucking and e-hailing services had increasingly employed foreign nationals at the expense of South Africans.
She also alleged that many township businesses were now owned by foreign nationals and called for legislation reserving the township economy for South African citizens.
March and March had previously set June 30 as the deadline for undocumented immigrants to leave the country voluntarily.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo/ANA Studio
She also said township businesses should be reserved for South African citizens.
"We demand our township economy to come back to the hands of South Africans. We are capable of running spaza shops. We are capable of running tuck shops."
Ngobese-Zuma also directed several demands at President Cyril Ramaphosa, saying government needed to urgently strengthen border security and overhaul immigration enforcement.
"I once again want to tell the President of South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa, that we want to know the risks that are associated with illegal migration and we want the whole nation to be made aware of this."
She claimed South Africa's borders were inadequately protected and urged government to increase funding for the Border Management Authority (BMA).
"We want our borders to stop operating at 25% capacity because currently in South Africa, 75% of our borders are wide open."
"We want the government to therefore increase the allocation for the BMA. We want our borders to be secured, whether you install a fence or a wall, but it's time now that we protect ourselves."
Ngobese-Zuma said she wanted the BMA's powers expanded and called for a significant increase in immigration officers.
"South Africa currently only has 800 immigration officers in the whole country. We want the number to be increased to 10,000."
She also called for amendments to the Immigration Act, Criminal Procedure Act, Police Act and other legislation to strengthen immigration enforcement.
Ngobese-Zuma said the movement wanted mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
"We want mass deportation to happen in the country. We have seen thousands of people leaving the country voluntarily and right now we are saying that they are not staying because they are not confident about something."
She further called for police officers and municipalities to be given powers to verify immigration documents instead of relying solely on the Department of Home Affairs.
"We demand that our laws also be amended so that they can give a collective responsibility to the South African Police Service so that the police and the municipality can be able to verify documents."
Ngobese-Zuma also alleged corruption within law enforcement and called for financial scrutiny of police officers.
"We also demand for each and every police officer in this country to have an audit of where they are getting their monies from if not from their salaries."
She claimed corruption allowed criminal activity to continue in areas such as Durban's Point precinct and Johannesburg's Hillbrow.
Ngobese-Zuma also thanked supporters for participating in Tuesday's march and encouraged them to continue supporting the campaign.
"I want to take this opportunity and thank you as the people of South Africa who sacrificed your time, you sacrificed your lives, you've taken time out of your businesses and your busy schedule and you have come out and taken to the streets."
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