The South African Police Services (SAPS) has as yet not responded to suggestions and perceptions raised by firebrand political party Operation Dudula implying that they (the police) are in cahoots with illegal foreigners and the so-called human rights organisations that protect foreigners.
According to Operation Dudula’s spokesperson Ndlovukazi ka Mamzizi, the party embarked on marches to the headquarters of three organisations on Thursday which are constantly at loggerheads with Operation Dudula; namely the South African Human Rights Commission, the Helen Suzman Foundation and Socio Economic Rights Institute (SERI).
“When we reached the SERI headquarters a large number of undocumented foreigners called Abahlali Basemjondolo blocked the entrance so as to prevent us from going inside and the police who were there also blocked us from proceeding into the building to hand in our memorandum to officials of SERI,” she said.
A video circulating on social media shows one black policeman(acting like an apartheid era agent provocateur) unduly using pepper spray on the marching members of Operation Dudula.
“We have reported this black agent provocateur policeman to Public Order Policing officials who were at the scene and we won’t rest until action is taken against him,” she said.
She said the actions of the agent provocateur were aimed at provoking members of Operation Dudula to react improperly and start a riot.
Denouncing allegations often made by Human Rights Commission, Helen Suzman Foundation and SERI that Operation Dudula persecutes foreigners, Ndlovukazi ka Mamzizi pointed out that Section 41 of the South African Constitution mandates identification requirements and gives immigration and police officers the authority to request ID documents to verify a person’s citizenship status.
“The so-called human rights organisations and their puppet NGOs are forever challenging this very section of the Constitution; leading to vindictive court cases brought by them against Operation Dudula and the Department of Home Affairs,” she said.
In a nutshell, Operation Dudula’s memorandum warns the two aforementioned NGOs as well as the Human Rights Commission to desist from defending illegal immigrants at the expense of South Africans who have to bear the brunt of criminal activities and lack of job opportunities that result from the influx of foreigners in South Africa.
Some of the placards carried by members of Operation Dudula had messages like “Unpatriotic Chapter 9 Institutions Must Fall,” “You are not for South Africans,” “Secure our Borders Now,” and “Support General Mkhwanazi!”
Operation Dudula’s branch in Durban also marched to the Human Rights Commission’s headquarters there and submitted a memorandum decrying the entity’s failure to come to the aid of South Africans in the midst of human rights violations perpetrated by undocumented foreigners and stop labelling the party as being xenophobic.
Spokesperson for lobby group called March-and-March Theresa Nortjie, whose organisation joined Operation Dudula in the Durban march, said “the South African Human Rights Commission is an unpatriotic entity which fights for the wrong side, namely undocumented foreigners, instead of fighting for South Africans.”
She said if the Human Rights Commission officials want to fight for the foreigners then they must go to the countries of those foreigners and fight for them there.
“We want the government and all other unpatriotic NGOs to understand that we are tired and can’t tolerate anymore this nonsense that they are condoning,” said Nortjie as she in the process pointed out that the Human Rights Commission and several NGOs deliberately misinterpret clauses of the Constitution to defend undocumented foreigners.
Operation Dudula Spokesperson in KZN Sifiso Manyala said there is nothing xenophobic about his organisation’s mission to prevent foreigners from using public health facilities as it is an international norm that anyone entering a foreign country must have their own health cover which they can use in case they get sick.
“I know of many cases whereby foreigners come to South Africa to undergo expensive surgical operations for free because in their own countries they are forced to pay for such health treatment,” said Manyala.
Copy of Memorandums: