The leader of the political group March and March, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, has defended a protest that brought the Durban central business district to a standstill, describing it as a necessary “clean-up” operation to restore order and dignity to the city.
Speaking in an interview, Ngobese-Zuma alleged that a rise in undocumented immigration and the municipality’s failure to enforce bylaws have contributed to deteriorating conditions in the CBD. She cited hijacked buildings, unregulated street trading, and open drug sales as evidence of decline.
“We’ve had a lot of change in our cities because of the influx of illegal immigrants,” Ngobese-Zuma said. “People just come into the country and start selling on the streets. And it’s become perfectly acceptable because the municipality has given up on doing what they’re supposed to do, which is enforcing bylaws.”
She said the protest involved volunteers wearing masks and gloves, collecting rubbish, and reporting individuals without permits to police who were present.
Asked about tensions that flared between locals and foreign nationals during the action, Ngobese-Zuma said a group of foreign nationals organized themselves and attacked marchers. She said seven or eight members were beaten, including a woman named Teresa who has opened a police case. She denied that a widely circulated video showing a person being beaten depicted a foreign national, claiming instead it showed a South African who had been stealing during the protest.
Responding to criticism from Democratic Alliance (DA) eThekwini councillor Sharmaine Sewshanker — who said unregulated protests create conditions for criminal activity including looting and muggings — Ngobese-Zuma questioned why the DA would oppose citizens cleaning streets. “Why would the police be there if it was unregulated?” she said.
She further claimed that only businesses owned by foreign nationals closed during the protest, suggesting those operations may not comply with South African trade and immigration laws. She called on the municipality, Home Affairs, and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to investigate the documentation and tax status of foreign-owned shops.
Ngobese-Zuma alleged that government and the media have a “combined effort” to portray South Africans negatively, pointing to an unreported incident in which a woman was shot in the foot by police during a previous Durban protest. “It’s quite sad that we find ourselves here fighting for our lives,” she said.
March and March has vowed to extend its clean-up protests to other areas, including KwaMashu.