Herman Mashaba slams Snuki Zikalala for 'blaming victims' of unemployment

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has accused ANC Veterans’ League president Snuki Zikalala for “blaming victims” of unemployment for the Operation Dudula and Dudula Movement protests. 

Zikalala this week set tongues wagging when he weighed in on the rise of the Dudula groupings in response to illegal immigration in the country, saying protesters must go to school, get skills and not harass foreign nationals.

Mashaba said Zikalala was “blaming victims” while being “part of the system” responsible for SA's jobs crisis. . 

“Someone who has played a role and was part of the system that created this current high unemployment and bad schooling in SA is now blaming the victims. So sad indeed,” he said.

Speaking on Newzroom Afrika, Zikalala said Operation Dudula was “dangerous” and suggested it was exploiting the unemployed.

“The majority of our youth are unemployed. I think Operation Dudula is a very dangerous movement because they saw a gap in that, they started hyping South Africans’ emotions and we are saying as the ANC that it is inhuman what they are doing,” he said. 

Last week, at the height of clashes between foreign nationals and community members claiming to be part of the Dudula Movement in Alexandra, Johannesburg, Mashaba cautioned South Africans against taking the law into their own hands.

He said South Africans were right to be frustrated about illegal immigration, but their anger was misplaced and should be directed towards the ANC.

“Home affairs has failed for decades to issue documentation to people who qualify. Our borders are not protected, and points of entry have created a free-for-all, where goods and people pass into SA without regulation. Who is to blame? The ANC, not foreign nationals,” he said.

Mashaba also told citizens to stop making foreigners scapegoats.

“Illegal immigration cannot be resolved by taking the law into our own hands, but only through the removal of the ANC government.

“Our involvement in multiparty coalitions has provided a legal platform to demonstrate how this issue is dealt with. With the MMC of public safety portfolios in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, we are demonstrating we can have a future where illegal immigration is addressed,” he said.