South Africans protest against xenophobia

Thousands took to the streets of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg on Friday calling for an end to the xenophobic violence that is fanned by anti-immigrant groups. Led by Operation Ubuntu and Siyafana Sonke Campaign, and backed by over 80 civil society organisations, the protesters delivered a memorandum of demands to the South African Police Services and various government departments.

The first stop for the Cape Town protest was at the Cape Town Central Police Station where the recently appointed provincial police commissioner, Lt Gen Sizakhele Dyantyi. received the memorandum. The protesters called for an end to the xenophobia perpetrated by the police, and for the arrest and prosecution of March & March ringleaders.

“Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, Nkosikhona Ndabandaba (Phakel’umthakathi), Ngizwe Mchunu have to be arrested and prosecuted for hate speech, inciting violence, and in Phakel’umthakathi’s case, assaulting migrants. Their actions have led to the forced removal of 160,000 people, our largest forced removal ever. The state has protected them before and since June 30, letting them act with impunity, which has emboldened vigilante groups,” said Shaheed Mohamed, secretary of the Workers International Vanguard League.

Outside parliament in Cape Town, protesters handed over a memorandum of demands to representatives from the departments of Human Settlement, Home Affairs, and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), as well as the Presidency.

They demanded that the Department of Human Settlement work with social justice and community structures to come up with a fresh bill on land and housing that is informed by community experiences and supported by existing research. In June, land and housing organisations rejected the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Amendment Bill and called on the government to deal with the housing crisis instead.

The memorandum stated that Cogta should implement disaster relief in all the areas where migrants are displaced in order to provide humanitarian relief and that there should be negotiation and reintegration as per the South African report on migration of 2023.

From Home Affairs, they demanded that the White Paper on Citizenship and Immigration be halted as some sections are deemed unconstitutional. For instance, the white paper proposes that asylum seekers are not by right entitled to a fair hearing, which is contrary to the Refugee Convention. “Enact an immediate 2-year moratorium on expulsions (voluntary repatriations) in order to allow African migrants to obtain their documents. Resolve the national identity documentation backlog, which has left an estimated 4-million South Africans without IDs, and address the backlog of expired or unprocessed migrant documentation by providing documentation. End mass expulsions and the prevailing climate of fear around documentation, which is functioning like a new dompas,” reads the memorandum.

The protesters called for an end to the xenophobic violence and for the state to be accountable for its actions.

Congolese Civil Society of South Africa (CCSSA) chairperson, Isaiah Mumbilo called for African unity against xenophobia as divisions are in the interest of colonisers and corporations. “Instead of talking about how to protect our natural and mineral resources that we have in the continent, we are prioritising hate of each other in the form of xenophobia,” he said.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has faced war and conflict resulting in an estimated 6-million deaths since 1996, a crisis that is driven by the violent control and exploitation of lucrative rare minerals and natural resources.

Activist and feminist, Takwana Maema said that migration is a tool that colonialists and capitalists have always used to pull down black bodies, and take control of land and resources. “We need not be taken into making false choices; we need to reject false choices! We need to unite, we need to look at the economic systems and see that these systems continue to perpetuate the fact that Africa continues to stay at the bottom,” she said.

Amadoda Aqotho, a men’s movement based in Khayelitsha, said that they joined the anti-xenophobia protest because the current xenophobic protests and violence scapegoats African migrants and excuses government and those in power. “We joined our African brothers and sisters because we understand that we should not be fighting each other as those in government and in power benefit from us attacking each other,” he said.

“We believe that we are one Africa and that we should not have borders, we should live together and we should somehow find a way to keep humanity on track and that is why I am here today. The attacks on our African brothers and sisters from the northern parts of Africa should stop,” said Amelia September, an activist who joined the protest.

The Cape Town protest ended with a concert from progressive artists entertaining the crowds.