Tshwane residents gear up for march against foreigners

The capital city is gearing up for a planned march on Friday by South Africans against foreign nationals on various issues, including the employment of foreigners ahead of locals, the hijacking of buildings and alleged drug dealing by foreigners.

Mamelodi Concerned Residents spokesperson Makgoka Lekganyane said they organised the march because they were tired of being slaves in their own country.

Lekganyane said the question they wanted to ask government was why were they giving Nigerian, Zimbabwean and Pakistani foreigners asylum while there were no wars in their countries?

“Unemployment is at 34% in South Africa but they give people asylum while there is not work for South Africans,” said Lekganyane.

He said if people went to businesses and restaurants in and around Tshwane, they would find foreigners working there.

“Our fellow white South Africans are not working but government gives work to Zimbabweans and other foreigners ahead of them,” added Lekganyane.

“Afrikaners are our countrymen but they are being treated like second-class citizens. But President Jacob Zuma says we must welcome foreigners. Repeal the laws that discriminate against fellow white South Africans.

“Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Pakistanis and other foreigners are not our countrymen and they bring nothing but destruction … they hijack our buildings, sell drugs, inject young South African women with drugs and sell them as prostitutes.”

Foreigners, he claimed, “destroyed our beloved Johannesburg and now they are destroying Pretoria”.

Tshwane Metro Police Department spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba confirmed it had received an application from Mamelodi Concerned Residents to hold a march on Friday.

“The application has not yet been approved,” Mahamba said. “We are still going to meet the organisers later this week.”

He added that should the application to march be approved, there would be conditions. According to information received by The Citizen, one of the stipulations would be that the marchers refrain from attacking foreigners or use any violence against the businesses of foreigners.

“We will be marching from the old Putco building in Marabastad at 11am to the department of home affairs,” Makgoka said.

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