By Palesa Matlala
- March and March will picket Monday’s SADC summit in Durban under the theme “it’s time to fetch your people,” targeting undocumented migrants.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa has told South Africans to feel “ashamed” of discrimination and violence against people from other African countries.
Regional leaders attending this week’s summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Durban will have to walk past a protest telling them to take their own citizens home.
March and March plans to march and picket in Durban on Monday, the final day of the 46th Ordinary SADC Summit of heads of state and government, hosted by South Africa. The movement has named its protest theme “It’s time to fetch your people.”
The demonstration lands squarely against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s own message to the same gathering. Speaking at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban on Friday, Ramaphosa said South Africa could not push for closer regional ties while people from neighbouring countries faced intimidation and violence.
“If we are serious about building an integrated region, we must build a Southern Africa in which the equal rights of all people are respected, where all people are treated decently,” he said. He added that South Africans should be “deeply concerned and ashamed” about the treatment of nationals from other countries.
March and March has led protests calling for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa. On 30 June, it organised demonstrations across all nine provinces, with more than 20 civic groups taking part. Movement leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma has since vowed the protests will continue every Thursday until government responds to its demands.
National spokesperson Sandile Dube said the movement is launching a second wave of its 30 June national day of action, timed to coincide with the summit. “The March and March movement hereby announces its second wave of June 30 National Day of Action and calls on all heads of state to prepare for a massive deportation of all illegal foreign nationals in South Africa by September 30, 2026,” he said.
Dube said the movement is now in a stronger position than during its June campaign. The group wants stricter visa controls, a review of asylum policies, action against employers who hire undocumented workers, accountability for corrupt police officials, and restrictions on undocumented migrants’ access to public services. Dube also called on South Africans to obey the law and report suspected crimes to police.
The planned protest comes as tensions over immigration have risen in parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape, with some foreign nationals leaving the country during the unrest.
Pictured above: March and March supporters.
Image source: File
