DURBAN – The 46th SADC Summit in Durban became a flashpoint for migration tensions on Monday as the anti-illegal immigration group March and March staged a protest outside the venue, urging heads of state to take immediate steps to repatriate undocumented foreign nationals currently living in South Africa.
Under the banner “It’s time to fetch your people,” the group’s leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma challenged regional leaders, including Zimbabwe’s delegation, to address what she described as a failure to enforce border controls and protect South African citizens.
Ngobese-Zuma criticised the summit for shutting out civil society voices, arguing that ordinary people are directly affected by decisions made behind closed doors. “We, the people, deserve to know what they’re discussing there. Those things are going to be affecting our lives at the end of the day,” she said.
The protest comes amid growing frustration over undocumented migration in the region. The group has warned that if SADC governments do not act, it will intensify its campaign and push for mass deportation of undocumented foreign nationals by 30 September.
For Zimbabwe, which has a large diaspora in South Africa, the calls carry significant weight. While many Zimbabweans are legally documented, the protest highlights ongoing regional friction over migration policies and the political pressure facing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to engage with Pretoria on the issue.
Ngobese-Zuma stressed that the group does not oppose properly documented foreigners who contribute positively to South Africa, but said undocumented individuals must be returned to their home countries. “We don’t mind having foreigners in our country who are properly documented, who are here doing correct things,” she said.
The demonstration adds to the complex dynamics at the SADC Summit, where economic integration and security cooperation are on the agenda, but migration remains a divisive issue that civil society groups are determined to keep in the spotlight.
