By Tichaona Katsvamutima
South Africa’s anti-immigration vigilante group, known as the March and March movement is set to stage a protest outside the Durban International Convention Centre on Monday as southern African leaders gather for the 46th SADC Summit, with authorities warning protesters against any attempt to disrupt the high-profile regional meeting.
The planned demonstration comes as South Africa hosts the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government Summit, placing the country’s contentious immigration debate directly alongside one of the region’s most important diplomatic gatherings.
South Africa is preparing to assume the SADC chairpersonship, giving the summit added significance for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration.
The decision by March and March to demonstrate outside the summit venue therefore places the movement’s immigration campaign in direct proximity to regional leaders.
March and March, led by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, has been campaigning for tougher action against undocumented migrants and stronger enforcement of South Africa’s immigration laws.
The movement has also called for stronger border controls and the deportation of undocumented migrants.
The organisers of the planned protest at the SADC summit are hoping that the action will bring March and March’s demands directly to regional leaders whose countries include major sources of migration into South Africa.
The movement has argued that neighbouring countries should take greater responsibility for their citizens living in South Africa without legal status.
Ngobese-Zuma has also criticised Ramaphosa for failing to meet with the movement.
“We’ve sent several requests to meet with him, but he has not responded to any of them,” she said in July.
“Well, if he wanted to meet us he would have done it by now, but I guess it’s the Zuma surname.”
The planned demonstration has triggered heightened security preparations around the summit venue.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) has warned that law enforcement agencies are on high alert ahead of the summit and the planned protest.
NATJOINTS chairperson Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili briefed the media on security arrangements for the gathering amid concerns that planned demonstrations could interfere with the summit.
The warning has been particularly firm given the history of tensions surrounding anti-immigration demonstrations.
Authorities have stressed that people have a constitutional right to protest peacefully, but that this right does not extend to violence, intimidation or disruption of critical public events.
The security operation is aimed at protecting visiting heads of state and government, delegates, residents and businesses in and around central Durban.
The planned protest comes at a sensitive time for South Africa’s relationship with its SADC neighbours.
Ramaphosa told regional leaders on Friday that South Africa was “deeply concerned and ashamed” about attacks on foreign nationals in the country.
His remarks came as he addressed a public lecture ahead of the SADC summit, where migration and regional integration are among the issues under discussion.
Ramaphosa’s comments highlight the tension facing the government: addressing widespread public concerns about undocumented immigration while simultaneously reassuring neighbouring countries that South Africa will not tolerate xenophobic violence.
