“We are not xenophobic, we love all Africans and we want to assist the government in ensuring that the people who come into the country are the ones with good image and are not the ones who would debt the image of their fellow Africans,” said Deputy President of Progressive Forces of South Africa Carol Mbhalathi as she and her fellow members marched from an empty space near Kgosi Mamapuru and Madiba Street to the Union Buildings on Monday.
Mbhalathi said the aim of the march was to address illegal migration issues, refugee status and the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP).
“We want a situation whereby foreigners come here legally and contribute to our economy,” said Mbhalathi.
Marching under the slogan “Reclaim South Africa,” Mbhalathi pointed out that the illicit economy is thriving in South Africa and foreigners are the ones perpetuating this.
“We have fake alcohol, fake medicine and other fake goods which are brought into the country illegally by illegal migrants to make an income,” said Mbhalathi.
“We are here to say let’s do things the correct way and we are not asking for something that is not written in the Constitution,” she said.
“It is written that foreigners must come into the country legally, it is written that they must get employment only if they offer scarce skills because at the moment they are competing with locals for jobs and the government must also protect businesses,” lamented Mbhalathi.
“It is not fair to have an illicit economy competing with our formal economy and some retail stores will be closing down and retrenching workers because their businesses are suffering as a result of fake cheap goods that are sold by illegal foreigners who don’t contribute to the supply chain because they manufacture their own fake goods and their activities don’t create jobs,” she said.
The march was also attended by members of other political parties like ActionSA, Patriotic Alliance, MK, Operation Dudula, ATM and civic movements like Abahambe, ADTF ASA, Count me in civic movement.
Patriotic Alliance member Lebogang Shivote told Tshwane Talks that she came to the march to preserve South Africans.
“We are marching against illegal migration, we are demanding mass deportation of illegal foreigners, and we are also demanding that foreigners must come into the country legally and abide by the laws of our country,” she said.
“I am marching for myself as a South African, I am marching for my fellow South Africans and I am marching for my descendants who will be South Africans,” said Shivote.
She lamented the fact that all organisations fighting against illegal migration are divided and can’t apply enough pressure on the government to stop illegal migration.
ActionSA Tshwane Regional leader Jackie Mathabathe was also at the march, and he told Tshwane Talks that there is a big problem regarding illegal migration because it impacts negatively on the economy as it reduces chances of South Africans being employed and another thing is that one can’t be in any county without proper documents because you become untraceable as we don’t know who you are
“We are not xenophobic, we are just standing up for the rights of our people and our country, anyone who is here illegally must be dealt with according to the law,” said Mathabathe,
He said as a party that practices ethical leadership, they cannot take the law into their own hands but that it was important to stand up against the government and force it to deal with the issue of illegal foreigners as it has a negative impact on our country and its people, and many people have been complaining about illegal foreigners for a long time now.
“We are saying be in our country it’s fine, but be here legally and be documented, and also follow our rules and our laws,” said Mathabathe.
(See attached for a full list of their demands)