Stop foreigners from ‘war torn countries’ killing, smuggling and human trafficking – ATM

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has released a statement welcoming police raids on foreign-owned shops, reaffirming their commitment to prohibit “the participation of foreign nationals at the micro-economic level” and calling for stronger borders, which the party says will curb crimes such as “killings in affluent areas such as Randburg”, smuggling of counterfeit goods and human trafficking.

The party, formed mainly by evangelical/charismatic Christian leaders loyal to former president Jacob Zuma, counts among its leaders businessman Mzwanele Manyi, who is their head of policy and strategy. It secured two seats in the 2019 elections, its first time contesting.

It has been accused of being right-wing populists and of advancing a xenophobic agenda, according to reports in The Mail & Guardian and New Frame.

“ATM has always been consistent in calling for the micro-economic space to be made 100% exclusive to South Africans, as in accordance to our conviction that is where ownership of the economy starts,” the statement reads.

“We call for by-laws which will be biased to South Africans. ATM commits to advocate and lobby for formulation of a Legislation which prohibits for the participation of foreign nationals at the micro-economic level.

WATCH: Mzwanele Manyi announces why he has joined the ATM

“Furthermore, ATM calls on the strengthening of borderline control by creating a harmonic and straight forward modus operandi between agencies that are running our borders. This will assist us in curbing; killings in affluent areas such as Randburg and other areas; Smuggling of Counterfeit goods; Human trafficking etc.

“Our worry as ATM is that failure to properly run our borders will result in us surrendering our sovereignty to non-South African citizens. It cannot be correct that we have immigrants whose backgrounds we do not know. The danger here is that some are from war torn countries, as such, they might have military background and that can never be something the country overlooks.

The statement then mentions former footballer Marc Bachelor’s alleged assassination, “where
professional hit men were hired to end his life.” What link this has to immigrants is not made clear in the statement.

The City of Johannesburg has been accused of targeting African migrants through the raids praised by ATM in the statement, something mayor Herman Mashaba denied on eNCA.

It has been reported that some have accused the City of the mistreatment in custody of foreign nationals arrested in these raids.

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