South Africa's anti-migrant marches build ahead of local polls

Bare-chested and wearing traditional headgear and armbands, Phakela Ndabandaba led several hundred South African men in a Zulu war cry directed at undocumented immigrants.

"We are ready to act," they chanted on Monday -- many carrying sticks, whips and shields -- at one of the largest protests in months demanding the departure of foreigners with no papers.

The imposing Ndabandaba is emerging as the face of a swelling nationwide protest movement spearheaded by various citizen-led fringe groups that is stirring up the hot-button issue in South Africa ahead of local elections in November.

That so many attended the latest protest at Kwa-Thema near Johannesburg during the work week should be a worry for the authorities, Ndabandaba said.

With unemployment above 30 percent, anti-undocumented migrant groups say foreign nationals are taking scarce jobs and resources. By EMMANUEL CROSET (AFP)

"This means they are not working," he told journalists.

With South Africa's official unemployment rate above 30 percent, his group, another called March and March and other smaller organisations have similar complaints: foreign nationals are taking scarce jobs and resources.

The growing tensions, fuelled by a torrent of online hate, are blamed for the killings of two Mozambicans more than a week ago, raising fears of a repeat of the bloodshed that has marked previous flare-ups in anti-migrant sentiment.

Foreign nationals have told of intimidation and beatings by mobs going door-to-door to tell them to leave by June 30, a "deadline" repeated by Ndabandaba and regularly broadcast across social media, even though it has no official backing.

"I was sleeping early in the morning and people just came and broke in the door," Malawian national Uledi Folloma, 31, told AFP in the small Western Cape province town of Gansbaai.

"They started to take our stuff and chased us," he said at a community hall, waiting with scores of foreign nationals for buses sent by their governments to take them home.

Ghana, Mozambique and Malawi are among the countries that have repatriated hundreds of their nationals this month. South African authorities say most did not have the correct documentation to be in the country.

'No political aspirations'

The Zulu activist -- whose full name is Nkosikhona Phakel'umthakathi Ndabandaba and is reported to be in his mid-40s -- distances himself and followers from the violence.

The new flare-up in South Africa's anti-migrant tensions comes as campaigning starts for November local government elections. By RODGER BOSCH (AFP)

"We are a year and six months with these marches and we have never killed or hit anyone," he said.

The flare-up comes as campaigning starts for the local government elections, when President Cyril Ramaphosa's long-dominant ANC party is expected to face another drubbing after losing its national majority in 2024.

"We have no political aspirations. We just want to awaken our leaders," Ndabandaba said.

He hails from KwaZulu-Natal, the only province where Zulu-based parties swept the 2024 elections and the heartland of the previous president, Jacob Zuma, expelled from the ANC for leading a rival party, the MK, into the elections.

Ndabandaba's group, which has no formal name, will not divulge its financial backers for rallies, which is now extending beyond its Zulu base, such as the one in Kwa-Thema in the ANC-led Gauteng province.

Traditional chiefs at workers' hostels and ordinary people contributed to the Kwa-Thema rally, said organiser Zandisile Thukwane.

"You don't need any funding to stand for your rights," said Ngizwe Nchunu, another group leader.

November elections

The founder of March and March -- which came to prominence last year when it blocked foreign nationals from accessing hospitals -- is also from KwaZulu-Natal.

Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma is the leader of the March and March movement, among the groups leading a campaign for undocumented foreign nationals to leave. By RAJESH JANTILAL (AFP)

"I have no desire to be in politics," former radio presenter Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, 39, told the SABC broadcaster this week.

However the small ActionSA party, which took just over one percent of votes in 2024, has already said it would welcome Ngobese-Zuma, who is not related to the ex-president.

Previously local-level protests are evolving into "a national movement that clearly has financing, a significant social media presence and a set of strong leaders fighting for political influence", said Loren Landau from the African Centre for Migration and Society.

"It is funded by internal political powers or aspirants who want to make the ANC look bad or want to support their own anti-immigration agenda so that they can access political office," he told AFP.

Hundreds of immigrants have returned home or taken refuge in community centres as anti-immigrant sentiment flares. By RODGER BOSCH (AFP)

"Every day closer to the election, it's more dangerous."

It is an "unforgiving environment" that "mixes genuine socio-economic grievances with populist rhetoric", said governance expert Tendai Mbanje from the Centre for Human Rights.

Analyst Kingsley Makhubela said even if citizen-led protest groups were not openly aligning themselves with any party, "They may see themselves as kingmakers in the next election."

"But who's funding their activities and moving around the country? It's something that we all don't know," he told AFP.

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