The shuttered streets of the Durban CBD reverberated with the roars of thousands who chanted and sang as they marched down Dr Pixley KaSeme Street to the Point precinct on Wednesday in the largest show of anti-immigrant sentiment.
From amabutho representing the Zulu royal regiments to members of March and March, Operation Dudula and the Amabhinca Nation, the protesters, brandishing sjamboks, assegais and shields, formed a human chain around a building on Mahatma Gandhi Road, claiming it was occupied by foreigners who used it as a drug den.
The protesters were accompanied by heavily armed law enforcement from all units including visible policing, the tactical unit and public order policing. When the protesters surrounded the building, policemen entered the premises.
Protesters claimed they had evidence of illegal activity and alleged some policemen were on the take and were turning a blind eye to the activities. They said they surrounded the building because they wanted to draw national attention to it.
One protester said these actions were in response to recent comments from KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi that they needed to report illegal activity to police instead of taking action against foreigners.
This comes after the anti-immigrant protesters shut down parts of the Durban CBD two weeks ago while they executed clean-up campaigns — literally sweeping the streets and picking up dirt.
They also made citizens arrests, accosting shop owners and traders in their bid to rid the city of illegal foreign nationals operating without proper documentation.
In the same week, a video of a man being slammed against a pole and beaten up emerged on social media with speculation the assaulted man was a Ghanaian national who couldn’t produce legitimate documentation to protesters.
Another video of protesters interrogating a man, who said he was from Ghana, and telling him to go back home to “fix his country” also surfaced.
This prompted Ghana’s foreign affairs minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to engage international relations minister Ronald Lamola and the South African envoy in Ghana where he “underscored ... Ghana’s support for the anti-apartheid struggle” and “emphasised that the unprovoked harassment and attacks on law-abiding individuals are contrary to the principles of African solidarity”.
However March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma told Sunday Times they had information the man allegedly attacked in a video was a local.
Ngobese-Zuma and Amabhinca Nation leader Ngizwe Mchunu both say law enforcement and government have failed to police the proliferation of illegal immigrants in South Africa.
This week Nigerian government officials were seething after rumours two citizens were killed while others were beaten in xenophobic attacks in South Africa, describing it as “Stone Age behaviour”.
On Tuesday Lamola held a telephone conversation with his Nigerian counterpart, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, after the plight of their citizens living in fear was discussed during a heated debate in the senate there.
Officials criticised the lack of government intervention to prevent attacks and threatened economic retaliation.
Senator Victor Umeh said Nigeria had played a significant role in supporting South Africa during apartheid, and warned the country should not tolerate what he described as the “dehumanisation” of Nigerians.
“The AU should rise and impose all necessary sanctions against South Africa. Nigeria should also consider reprisal measures,” he said.
Minority leader Abba Moro criticised the South African government for what he described as a failure to act. “What is news here is that the South African government has refused to intervene in the interest of justice. South Africa should respect Nigeria for standing by it during apartheid,” he said.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole called for economic retaliation, including targeting South African companies operating in Nigeria. “It is time to reciprocate. Nigeria should consider withdrawing licences of companies such as MTN and DStv,” he said.
President of the Nigerian senate Godswill Akpabio described the alleged attacks as “Stone Age behaviour” and criticised what he said was a lack of decisive action from the South African government.
International relations department spokesperson Chrispin Phiri confirmed Lamola had a telephonic discussion with Nigerian foreign minister Odumegwu-Ojukwu on Tuesday.
“The call was to discuss the actions against foreigners and the ministers agreed to work together to get to the root causes of some of these problems. But also to ensure we improve people-to-people relations — that was the spirit of the call."
He said both ministers interacted in December 2024 and spoke about an early warning mechanism on how to address issues when tensions are rising.
“We need to complete the implementation of this so we are able to strengthen this aspect of this relationship, because admittedly there have been tensions historically. We have been speaking to our counterparts across the continent where possible and the message is to address the root causes.
“South Africa is the net receiver of the continent’s immigrants — and we think the concerns around irregular migration are valid. But we are crystal clear that these must be raised and directed towards law enforcement.”
Phiri said there was also concern about disinformation.
“There is an increase in fake news around some of these things — that is something which concerns us. Who is painting South Africans as violent and xenophobic but also producing information that is not evidence-based about some of the actions of some foreigners in the country? We want people to act on actual facts. Just because someone is a foreigner doesn’t mean they are a drug dealer and just because South Africans are protesting doesn’t mean they are violent and people are being hurt."
He said for example the rumour that two Nigerians were killed recently was not verifiable.
“No one knows about this as far as we know. No one knows the case and it was said they were killed by security officials. I can point to specific examples where fake news has permeated official discussions.
“From our perspective we are on high alert.”
Presidency minister Vincent Magwenya was reported as saying labelling the protests as evidence that South Africa is xenophobic is lazy analysis that overlooks the deeper issues at play.
Magwenya said President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mozambican President Daniel Chapo agreed last week that South Africans are not inherently xenophobic, and that African countries must work together to address the root causes of migration.
“There are genuine concerns that communities have with respect to crime, crimes that are committed by foreign nationals, where the president expects law enforcement, again, to act without any fear or favour, and also to say to those who are visitors in our country, they must respect and conform with our laws.
“If they break the law, they will face the full might of the law, just as all of us are expected to respect the law.”
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