BELLVILLE – Approximately 300 people marched from Bellville to Parow on Saturday as part of a growing anti-illegal immigration movement spreading across South Africa, while foreign nationals—including those legally in the country—expressed fear of being targeted.
The protest, organised by March and March alongside other organisations and political parties, proceeded peacefully. Organisers insisted the demonstration was not xenophobic but aimed squarely at undocumented migrants, those using fraudulent documents, and individuals accused of criminal activity.
“We have been complaining a lot about the behavior and the crimes that foreign nationals are committing in the country whereas they are being painted as the victims all over the world,” said March and March’s Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma. “It’s South Africans that are xenophobic. There’s nothing xenophobic about marching in our streets. It’s our constitutional rights.”
As the march moved through Bellville and into Parow, several foreign-owned businesses remained closed, with some owners choosing to stay away amid fears of possible unrest. Others watched from balconies as marchers passed the area under police watch.
“For today, I need to close the business because we don’t know anything can happen. So that’s why we need to close. Obviously, we not feeling free anymore,” said one foreign national from Congo who has lived in South Africa for more than 15 years and is legally in the country.
“When they say we take our job, I don’t see any job because we’re not working. We try to do our business. The South African government they have to remember that we all African. They need to protect us as we are human being. So we don’t want to be maltreated like dogs, to beat us like that.”
March and March dismissed accusations that the movement is divisive. “They argue that we are dividing people. We’re dividing ourselves from people who are not supposed to be in the country. That’s the division that we’re making,” Ngobese-Zuma said. “Any other division that they’re talking about is absolute hogwash because here there’s different people from different tribes, races, color, creeds, everything. In fact, this is the first time South Africans have been so united on an issue post-apartheid.”
Some observers warned that the movement requires careful monitoring, particularly with local government elections approaching in November.
“I think that government should have stepped in a little while ago with this,” one observer said. “It’s just since the beginning of the year this has been ramping up. As we head towards the local government elections… we saw online when March and March’s Justin Tang said ‘who should we partner with ahead of the election.’ So she’s offering her network and support to politicians. That’s obviously an indicator that we need to be looking at the elections in November and paying attention to all these instances where crisis can be created.”