The Department of Home Affairs has begun verifying the legal and refugee status of more than 400 foreign nationals sheltering outside the Diakonia Centre in Durban, where families including women and children have spent several nights after fleeing alleged intimidation, assaults, and threats linked to anti-immigration tensions.
March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma arrived at the centre to protest, standing opposite the building where the foreign nationals have gathered. Her group held a march in Pinetown the previous day, with crowds calling for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa by June 30.
In an interview at the scene, Ngobese-Zuma described the deadline as “a call for them to actually take themselves home without there being any trouble.”
“I really don’t think that by announcing that date he was trying to scare anyone or intimidate them,” she said. “It’s just a call to say you’ve got this much time. Prepare yourself to go home because if you’re in the country illegally, why should we even have to beg you to go home?”
When asked about President Ramaphosa, who was in Botswana condemning attacks against undocumented and foreign nationals, Ngobese-Zuma said: “He must continue to condemn. We’ll continue to govern ourselves since he’s not serious about it.”
Responding to reports that foreign nationals have been attacked in their communities and that March and March is being blamed, she said: “They must go open a case. What must we do? That’s what the justice system is for.”
Addressing those who label the situation xenophobia, Ngobese-Zuma said: “We’re not going to sit back and allow this to continue happening in our country because we can’t have a country being turned into a refugee site for all failed African countries. We have become a dumping ground.”
She rejected the concept of African unity as it applies to South Africa: “How does it work that this African unity means that our buildings must be dilapidated? We must accept crime, human trafficking, drugs? If that is what African unity is about, then we as South Africans are saying we don’t want to be part of it.”
Ngobese-Zuma argued that Home Affairs must take responsibility for integrating foreign nationals, saying South Africa has “no refugee camps” unlike other countries that signed UN agreements. “The whole country is a refugee camp. South Africans have nowhere to go.”
She added: “You can’t blame ordinary South Africans for feeling aggrieved because they don’t have jobs. Our children are not safe. We as South Africans are the ones that are scared more than foreign nationals in our own country. At least they’ve got an option. They can always go back to their country.”
When pressed about claims that March and March’s actions have been violent, Ngobese-Zuma insisted the group has “always been peaceful” and said foreign nationals’ home governments should collect them. “The reason why they’re here is because their government failed them. We don’t owe them anything.”
She concluded: “We’ve catered for them for 32 years. We paid our dues. You can’t expect us to keep paying anymore. It’s enough.”
Documents from the foreign nationals at the Diakonia Centre have been sent to Home Affairs for verification. Some individuals claim they are legally in the country and are being targeted solely for being foreign nationals.
Ngobese-Zuma said verification is “Home Affairs’ duty” and that her group is there “to make sure Home Affairs is doing their job.” She noted that if documents are found valid, “Home Affairs must make provision for them to stay.”
The June 30 deadline remains in place, Ngobese-Zuma confirmed, adding that March and March will “continue to put pressure on the government.”