‘We just want peace in our country’ – Ekurhuleni residents protest against undocumented foreigners
· Citizen
Residents from Benoni and Ekurhuleni in Gauteng have embarked on a march against illegal immigrants under the banner “Mabahambe”, meaning “they must go”, on Saturday, highlighting concerns affecting local communities and calling for government intervention.
The protestors have blamed illegal foreigners for most of the crimes committed in South Africa.
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“We want to fix our country in a proper way,” one protestor, Ntsizwa, told Newzroom Afrika. “Now we can’t even move now, you understand the way that there are many of these people. I mean, there’s so many crimes that is happening in our country.
“There’s so many hijackings, if you can name them. So why we’re doing this? We want to have a peaceful country.”
List of demands
Protestors spent most of their Saturday moving through the streets of Daveyton as they prepared to hand over a memorandum to the City of Ekurhuleni. It is understood the memorandum outlines residents’ grievances, including the presence of undocumented immigrants, joblessness, high crime rate, and a number of service delivery issues.
Ntsizwa said the protest is to send a message to the government that the ‘March and March’ movement is serious, and “because you might not know what’s going to happen after the 30th.”
He was referring to the ultimatum by the movement demanding all undocumented foreign nationals leave South Africa by 30 June, threatening to stage a nationwide shutdown if the deadline is not met.
The aim of the march
He added that the purpose of Saturday’s peaceful march is to ask undocumented immigrants to go back to their countries of origin to fix their documents and come back to South Africa legally.
“We’re not hitting them. We’re not fighting with them, but we’re asking them humbly so because after the 30th, we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Ntsizwa.
“We have organised this march peacefully, so after the 30th, you know going to happen. So what we’re [doing is] just sending the message loud and clear to our government, to our city, to take us seriously, to listen to our grievances as we are about to hand over the memorandum.”
Issues faced by undocumented foreigners
Some immigrants have reportedly raised concerns about the difficulties they face in obtaining the necessary documentation from both the South African government and the governments of their countries of origin.
They argue that these challenges stem from shortcomings in government systems and administration, and have appealed to South Africans to direct their frustration at the authorities responsible rather than at immigrants themselves.
In response, Ntsizwa said they have been working with different departments to check if any foreigner has the correct documentation to be in the country.
“We have to check every document,” he said. “I think if we can work together with the ambassadors peacefully, as I’ve said earlier in my interview, that we’re not fighting with them, we’re not being xenophobic, but all we want is peace.”
How to deal with issues
Ntsizwa acknowledged that there is corruption in different departments and getting rid of undocumented immigrants does not solve the fundamental issues such as crime, lack of service delivery and unemployment.
He said the work of dealing with undocumented immigrants has to start at the border gates. “If you can start there, then it’s easier to go back to the parliament and try to fix the issue.”
He noted the accusations that some of the undocumented immigrants bribe officials to get into the country, but stated there hasn’t been any proof of such.