South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO) staged a protest march to the Union Buildings on Thursday 12 December under the battle cry #Abahambe (Let foreigners go).
According to a statement released by SANCO before the march, the organisation’s grievances are mainly focused on the presence of illegal foreign nationals who own spaza shops, illegal miners (Zama-Zamas), unemployment among local black South Africans as well as the ongoing water and electricity crisis.
“SANCO as an organisation has walked every step of the way with oppressed South African communities in good and in bad times, so don’t expect it to keep quiet now when there is so many injustices going on in our country against the marginalised local black South Africans,” read the statement.
SANCO gave President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government 12 days to respond to the demands listed in its memorandum and the said memorandum was received by officials from the Presidential office.
SANCO’S demands are as follows:
1.Communities are tired of living in open-air prisons! The police must work together with communities to get rid of all forms of crime.
2. Protect the jobs and spaza shop businesses of local black South Africans and reserve all unskilled jobs for local South Africans.
3. Government and the Chamber of Mines must work together with local communities to safeguard and protect discarded mines from being invaded by Zama-Zamas.
4. Protect our porous borders now because currently anyone can just walk through and become the liability and responsibility of the government and the country.
5.Deal decisively with unemployment because we are tired of the government begging businesses to create jobs, therefore the government must directly invest in our economy by forming partnerships with local communities.
6. Phantsi Eskom and Nersa with their callous electricity hikes because the proposed hikes are wrong and would only cause more hardship.
Establish a joint SANCO and Government Committee before Christmas Day 2024, to be chaired by President Ramaphosa himself with the aim of reporting back on the aforesaid demands within three months.
Copy of a memorandum: