DURBAN - A South African activist urged anti-immigrant demonstrators not to loot shops or attack foreigners ahead of a planned June 30 action, even as reports of looting surfaced in several areas and police made arrests.
Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, leader of the March and March movement, in a video message widely circulated on social media, pleaded with supporters to keep protests peaceful and focus on pressing the government to remove undocumented immigrants.“30 June is not for looting or for forcibly removing immigrants from their homes and beating them up and injuring them,” Ngobese-Zuma said. “I plead with you please because if that’s what you had been planning stop it.”
She argued that looting would make immigrants appear as victims and hurt South African communities in the long run.
“Looting is not good because it will affect everyone,” she said. “At the end you will end up making them look like they are the victims but we know how they have messed up our lives.”
Ngobese-Zuma drew on memories of the widespread looting that followed the July 2021 unrest. She said she helped organize cleanup efforts in areas like KwaMashu, where ransacked shops including Shoprite closed, leaving residents without access to basic goods.
“The shops closed and it really affected us,” she said. “The economy will be heavily affected.” Recent days have seen isolated incidents of looting targeting immigrant-owned shops in places including Bloemfontein in the Free State and Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal.
Police reported more than 140 arrests for public violence and looting in the Bloemfontein area alone following a shutdown protest that turned chaotic.
The activist said the goal remains to secure the departure of immigrants through pressure on the government, not street-level vigilantism.“What we are saying is that after 30 June when they are gone we will then sort out our mess,” Ngobese-Zuma said.
She acknowledged skepticism that peaceful marches work but insisted they do, adding that instant expulsion of all immigrants is unrealistic.
She warned that some political groups, including the Economic Freedom Fighters, and immigrants themselves are waiting for protesters to commit violence or excesses that could be used against them in the media.“Don’t give them the satisfaction,” Ngobese-Zuma said.
“They have shown that they are not on the side of the people.”
She called on supporters to remain vigilant against fabricated claims of assaults on June 30 and repeated her central appeal: “I ask you people never to loot.”
No immediate comment was available from government officials. South Africa has seen recurring tensions over immigration, with critics blaming undocumented foreigners for high unemployment, crime and strained public services.