March and March, Jacob Zuma and the shadow of 2021
The March and March movement’s rise is tied to political allies and anti-immigrant organisers. But behind the public face of March and March are lesser-known directors whose links point back to the Zuma family. As the 30 June shutdown approaches, the mobilisation has revived fears of organised unrest and violence reminiscent of July 2021. The […] The post March and March, Jacob Zuma and the shadow of 2021 appeared first on The Namibian .
The March and March movement’s rise is tied to political allies and anti-immigrant organisers. But behind the public face of March and March are lesser-known directors whose links point back to the Zuma family. As the 30 June shutdown approaches, the mobilisation has revived fears of organised unrest and violence reminiscent of July 2021.
The shadow of former president Jacob Zuma hangs over the anti-immigrant movement and its leading protagonists in the run-up to their planned 30 June shutdown – just as it hung over the coordinated 2021 unrest that broke out after his jailing for contempt of court.
While there is no evidence that Zuma himself is involved in manipulating the anti-immigrant sentiment, family networks and associates of the former president are at the heart of the loose alliance of entities driving the increasingly violent anti-immigrant movement spreading outwards from KwaZulu-Natal.
They include March and March, and Ngizwe Mchunu and his Amabhinca Nation – as well as Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party itself, which has indicated its support for Tuesday’s protest. It also includes other parties such as ActionSA that have mobilised in a populist way around what are genuine grievances about illegal immigration.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has lambasted the movement and in particular, singled out Zuma as, according to him, stoking the fires to unleash chaos on South Africa – making a specific reference to 2021.
Most of the attention given to March and March has fixated on its charismatic leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, ignoring the two other directors of the company that was registered in August last year: Sanele and Nozibusiso Khambule.
