Xenophobic unrest — a crisis co-written by March and March and SA’s political class
As March and March’s 30 June ‘deadline’ looms, politicians have helped to move anti-migrant rhetoric from the fringe to the centre of politics. Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, the former radio show host at the centre of South Africa’s current xenophobic unrest, says her movement, March and March, is apolitical. But, while multiple parties have legitimised her anti-immigrant […] The post Xenophobic unrest — a crisis co-written by March and March and SA’s political class appeared first on The Namibian .
As March and March’s 30 June ‘deadline’ looms, politicians have helped to move anti-migrant rhetoric from the fringe to the centre of politics.
Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, the former radio show host at the centre of South Africa’s current xenophobic unrest, says her movement, March and March, is apolitical. But, while multiple parties have legitimised her anti-immigrant agenda, at least two parties have actively furthered it, stoking fears ahead of March and March’s ominous 30 June deadline, with multiple immigrants killed and thousands already displaced across the country.
Despite Ngobese-Zuma’s claims of March and March being “non-aligned to any political party,” there are clear links to Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party. For starters, Sanele Khambule, a director of March and March listed on company records and the movement’s National Treasurer, was a candidate on the MK Party’s national election list ahead of the May 2024 general election.
Khambule consequently didn’t make it to Parliament, but it’s unclear whether he remains a member of the party.
