How frustrated groups sponsored anti-foreigner protests in S’Africa — Report

The anti-foreigner campaigns forcing Nigerians and other Africans to leave South Africa as of June 30 were fuelled by civil society organisations born out of activism and frustration, Diaspora Tales has learnt.

This was revealed in a report by Alfa Destiny Communications in partnership with Novus Group titled Africa Reputation Intelligence Report.

Diaspora Tales had reported that Nigerians were among African nationals who had faced xenophobic attacks from South Africans since the beginning of the year.

Many of the protests that occurred in Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, East London, among other major cities, were used to loot businesses and assault Nigerians, leading to the deaths of some.

The attacks, which have become a continental issue, according to many diplomatic experts, were not properly managed by South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, despite criticism from opposition leader Julius Malema.

In an interview with Sky News in May, Malema said the protests were politically motivated by certain groups in South Africa.

“It is clownish and stupid. There is no xenophobia in South Africa; it’s just a group of charlatans, extortionists, disruptors and corrupt individuals who want to extort foreign nationals,” he said.

In a similar narrative, the report by Alfa Destiny, a pan-African strategic communications and reputation agency headquartered in South Africa, said the campaigns were driven by civil society organisations formed out of frustration.

“A coalition of more than 27 civil society and activist organisations, led by the March and March movement and Operation Dudula, has spent months building toward this day of protest (June 30), framed around an unofficial deadline for undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country,” the report stated.

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The report noted that the March and March movement was founded and is led by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, a South African radio personality, podcaster and civic activist based in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

“March and March is the primary organiser of the June 30 protests. Led by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, the movement emerged from online activism and community frustration and has grown to coordinate more than 27 civic organisations,” the report disclosed.

In the wake of the demonstrations and attacks in South Africa, the Nigerian government has repatriated over 800 Nigerians in three batches.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said in a post on X, “The third evacuation flight operated by Air Peace will depart Johannesburg today by 12 midnight with 271 returnees.”

Some of the returnees have recounted their ordeals in the hands of South Africans who brutalised them, saying Nigerians and other Africans had taken their jobs, leaving them impoverished.

However, the report stated that unemployment and other economic challenges have been the underlying reasons South Africans engaged in the molestation, assault and attack of African foreigners in the country.

“South Africa’s immigration crisis did not emerge overnight. It is the product of decades of structural economic strain compounded by political opportunism,” it asserted.

Detailing the role of the organisers of the campaigns, the report said the March and March movement “is not a government-sanctioned body.”

It added, “It has no legal authority to enforce immigration law or set national deadlines, and the June 30 date is not an official government deadline.”