Durban Organisations Come Together to Fight Xenophobia

March and March members cleaned streets in Durban’s city centre on Wednesday. But immigrant-owned shops that employ numerous people remained closed out of fear of xenophobic violence.

• The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Africa Solidarity Network met on Wednesday to discuss how to counter xenophobia and create jobs within KwaZulu-Natal.
• Anti-immigrant group March and March continued their clean-up campaign, which has now been going on for almost two weeks.
• An Ethiopian businessman whose shops have had to close during the campaign said he employs about 400 people. “Who’s going to feed these people?” he asked.

Two organisations, speaking on behalf of immigrant business owners, met in Durban South Beach on Wednesday morning to discuss how to respond to “clean-up campaigns” led by anti-immigrant groups.

The campaigns, led by March and March, have been running for almost two weeks. While some days have been peaceful, with participants street sweeping and picking up litter, some days have seen immigrants being assaulted, “citizen arrests” of people alleged to be undocumented, and shop keepers closing their stores out of fear.

Wednesday’s discussion was led by a panel consisting of members from the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) and The Africa Solidarity Network.

Nokwanda Mdunge, leader of WLM, read out a joint statement calling for an end to violence and xenophobia in KwaZulu-Natal. It also called on government, traditional leaders, and business to come together and create more jobs.

“Enough is enough,” said Mdunge, who worries that if violence against immigrants is not quelled, it could spiral out of control into a situation similar to the xenophobic attacks of 2015.

The two organisations are now looking at different ways to protest against xenophobia and to create jobs, including development programmes and awareness campaigns, said Mdunge.

Letters asking for action against anti-immigrant sentiment have been sent to the premier, mayor, Home Affairs and the KZN police commissioner, said Mdunge.

An Ethiopian business owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said that his shops, which collectively employ 400 South Africans, have had to remain closed since Monday. If this continues, he said, he would soon not be able to afford to pay his employees’ salaries. “Who’s going to feed these people?” he asked.

The “clean-up” continues

Only about 20 people attended Wednesday’s March and March cleanup event. There were about as many police, following and monitoring them.

March and March have also been joined by another anti-immigrant group called Amabhinca Nation led by Ngizwe Mchunu.

“All the illegal immigrants, they must go, and our local people must take over the local businesses,” Mchunu told GroundUp when we asked what was the goal of the campaign.

The group will continue the campaign with March and March until 27 April, when they will move operations to Johannesburg, he said.

Although the campaign was peaceful on Wednesday, we counted at least 50 businesses that remained closed, mostly in Bertha Mkhize Street (formerly Victoria Street).

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