VIDEO: #ShutDownKZN marchers protest outside ANC Durban offices

ARMED police blocked the entrance to the African National Congress offices in Durban as a coalition group of concerned citizens protested against foreigners and corruption.

The coalition was made up of uMkhonto WeSizwe Military Veterans Association, All Truck Drivers Foundation, taxi drivers and the Unemployed Graduates Movement under the #ShutDownKZN banner. 

Earlier on Friday, the group of about 200 people blocked cars on the N3 highway before they were dispersed by Metro Police. 

ALSO READ: VIDEO: MK veterans bring Durban traffic to a standstill

The group later re-emerged at the ANC KwaZulu-Natal headquarters on Stalwart Simelane, where the whole road was closed. 

There was a heavy police presence surrounding the building. 

Dumisani Thango, an MK vet, said they had no intention of storming the ANC building because MK is part of the ANC. 

Thango said their issues were concerned with corruption in the party and the broken promises they made to MK vets. 

“For 26 years don’t they know there are places we can’t go to because they are full of foreigners,” said Thango, using the offensive work of “amakwerekwere” to describe foreign nationals. 

“Don’t they know that MK soldiers are hungry? Don’t they know that some MK vets are selling sugarcane? Some of us are buried as paupers.”

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There was further controversy when MKMVA in KZN released a statement distancing itself from the march. 

“Any MKMVA member that will participate in the shutdown would have done that at (their) own independent right. The MKMVA PEC also wishes to call on all its members to shy away from such a planned shutdown,” said Jazzman Mthembu, MKMVA Provincial Secretary. 

Mduduzi “Babsy” Sithole, an MK veteran, disputed Mthembu’s position, saying new leadership had not been elected due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Sithole denied the anti-foreign sentiment of the march would heighten fears of xenophobia. 

A WhatsApp audio had been doing the rounds on social media of a man calling for foreigners to go home as they were “stealing” jobs of unemployed South Africans.

Nkululeko Ndlovu, leader of UGM, said they had joined the march to highlight youth unemployment in the country. 

“We are not saying that the government should employ us, we know they don’t have capacity but we have (put forward) policies that exclude us from participating in the economy,” he said.

The group was waiting for a representative from the Department of Transport or ANC to address them.

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