Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, head of the March and March movement, has publicly endorsed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent immigration briefing, calling it a long-awaited acknowledgment of a pressing national challenge. Yet, alongside the endorsement, she issued a sharp warning: the government’s proposed enforcement strategy lacks the logistical capacity and legislative grounding needed to succeed.
Ngobese-Zuma highlighted several elements of the address that aligned with community concerns, including the administration’s focus on immigration-linked crime, the growing dominance of foreign-owned spaza shops, and the displacement of local workers in the employment sector. Despite these acknowledgments, she cautioned that the President’s remarks appeared to treat immigration as a partisan talking point rather than a fundamental livelihood and human rights crisis. “We have repeatedly sought a direct meeting to outline the full scale of the issue,” she noted, adding that the current briefing seems to underestimate the systemic depth of the problem.
The movement’s leadership pointed to several practical roadblocks that could derail the proposed measures. Ngobese-Zuma emphasized that scaling up deportations is unworkable without a substantial fleet of transport vehicles, arguing that expanding court infrastructure will yield little benefit if detainees cannot be moved to hearings. She also flagged a severe staffing shortfall, noting that the Department of Home Affairs currently operates with just 800 immigration officers—a figure she described as wholly inadequate for auditing and regularizing the country’s undocumented population. Additionally, she dismissed the prospect of criminalizing businesses that employ foreign nationals, stating that existing legislation does not currently support such penalties.
Beyond enforcement logistics, Ngobese-Zuma questioned the reliance on newly proposed refugee processing centers, pointing out that they fail to address the millions of foreign nationals already residing in South Africa without valid documentation. She urged authorities to first revisit the country’s commitments under United Nations refugee frameworks before rolling out additional facilities. The conversation around spaza shops also drew scrutiny; while some political actors argue that barring self-identified refugee claimants from operating small businesses is unconstitutional, Ngobese-Zuma countered that this legal ambiguity stems from a broader crisis of improper documentation that must be tackled at its source.
Clarifying public confusion around the June 30 timeline, Ngobese-Zuma confirmed that the self-departure window was initiated by “Phakelumthakathi”, not the national government. The date was set to encourage undocumented individuals to leave voluntarily, an approach she described as far more economical than state-led deportations. Looking ahead, March and March intends to coordinate nationwide demonstrations in partnership with the Abahambe Movement and other progressive civil society alliances. However, she voiced concerns that opposition political groups may attempt to infiltrate the protests, aiming to rebrand lawful public assemblies as vigilante actions.
“The President does not live alongside these undocumented populations—South Africans do,” Ngobese-Zuma asserted, reinforcing the movement’s demand for policies rooted in on-the-ground realities rather than political convenience. As the government prepares its next enforcement steps, grassroots leaders are pressing for transparent, well-resourced strategies that balance national security with constitutional accountability.