By Anita Dangazele
- VaTsonga Machangana marched to the Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg on 26 June 2026, demanding recognition and protection for Tsonga South Africans routinely mistaken for foreign nationals.
- National Co-ordinator Wandile Maluleke says Tsonga people are stopped by strangers and forced to show their IDs, while a member named MK Party and Action SA as funders of marches that put their community at risk.
National Co-ordinator Wandile Maluleke says Tsonga people are stopped by strangers and forced to show their IDs, while a member named MK Party and Action SA as funders of marches that put their community at risk.
Tsonga South Africans say they are being treated like foreigners in their own country. On Friday, 26 June 2026, they took that grievance to the South African Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg.
Members of the VaTsonga Machangana movement submitted a memorandum calling on authorities to recognise their identity, protect their constitutional rights and stop what they describe as years of discrimination against Tsonga-speaking people. The commission has been running an intervention programme on migration-related tensions since late May 2026, making it a deliberate destination for the march.
National Co-ordinator Wandile Maluleke said the problem is happening in plain sight. Strangers hear Xitsonga being spoken and demand that the speaker prove they are South African.
“When other tribes hear them speak a language that they don’t understand, they then require them to prove that they are South Africans. We don’t believe that a random South African has the right to ask another to prove their identification,” Maluleke said.
He said the community is not looking for acceptance. It is looking for respect.
“We are not requesting anyone to approve us. We are approved. We are in the eleven official languages. We are South Africans. We are all over the country,” he said.
The march comes four weeks after 19-year-old Nhlamulo Sambo was stabbed to death in KwaNonqaba, Mossel Bay, during anti-immigrant unrest. His family says he was killed because he was Tsonga and mistaken for a foreigner. The murder case was struck from the roll due to a lack of evidence. The suspect walked free.
VaTsonga Machangana member Nhlamulo Makhubele said Sambo’s death is exactly what the movement is trying to prevent.
“We lost one of our own. We have not even got justice today,” Makhubele said.
He also alleged that political parties have been funding the marches he says have endangered Tsonga people.
“There are a lot of parties that have been funding these things, like your MK party, your Action SA,” Makhubele said.
The march takes place four days before 30 June 2026, when March and March — the movement behind the anti-immigrant protests that have swept the country since May — has set a deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa. March and March issued a statement on Friday saying it fully supports the VaTsonga Machangana protest and rejects tribalism in any form.
Pictured above: Members of the VaTsonga Machangana movement march to the South African Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg on 26 June 2026, demanding recognition and equal treatment for Tsonga South Africans.
Image source: Supplied
