March and March Demonstrate At SADC Summit Demanding Action On Illegal Migration

The anti-illegal immigration group March and March staged a demonstration outside the 46th SADC Summit in Durban, urging leaders to repatriate undocumented citizens residing in South Africa.

Under the theme 'It's time to fetch your people,' the organization's leader, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, questioned the limited voice given to civil society at the summit. She argued that groups like hers bring essential real-life experiences, contrasting it with what she described as leaders making "false promises to each other."

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We can reference real, real things. You know, instead of them looking at each other, clapping for each other and, and you know, making false promises to each other. We, the people, deserve to know what they're discussing there. And those things are going to be affecting our lives at the end of the day.

Ngobese-Zuma called for enhanced border controls and legislation aimed at "protecting South Africans and putting South Africans first." She expressed frustration with what she termed "window dressing sessions" by the government, suggesting a lack of genuine listening to the populace.

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We want something that is practical, and we want a government that listens to its people, not a government that pretends that they're listening while they're carrying on with their window dressing session.

The group warned that mass deportations of undocumented foreign nationals would occur by September 30 if governments fail to act. Ngobese-Zuma stated that South Africans are growing tired of feeling unsafe in their own country and that the organization intends to intensify its campaign.

She clarified that the group does not object to properly documented foreigners who contribute positively to the country, but rather to those perceived as exploiting South Africa's resources before returning to their home countries.

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We don't mind having foreigners in our country who are properly documented, who are here doing correct things, who love the country as much as we do. Not people sitting here trying to rip the country of all that it has and then knowing that they're going to go back to their country the minute all of it is over.