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- A DECENT HOME FOR FAMILY OF CONJOINED TWINS - July 17, 2026
- LESOLO LA MARCH AND MARCH LE TŠWETŠE PELE LE KA TOROPONG YA BURGERSFORT - July 17, 2026
The notorious rise of anti-immigration movements Operation Dudula and lately March and March has shown how dangerous a mass movement can be if it doesn’t have clear ideology, political clarity and legitimate leadership.
Upon its formation, Operation Dudula professed to be apolitical, often urging the public not to vote for the ANC and EFF for their stance on immigration. In pursuing this position it neglected the simple fact that the Democratic Alliance shared the same perspective with the two parties accused of protecting foreigners but the DA was never decampaigned. Operation Dudula pursued the campaign against ANC and EFF without ever giving its followers who were in the tens of thousands in the initial stage, who to vote for. Parties such as Action SA, Patriotic Alliance and ATM picked up some of the vote although there’s no scientific proof that people choose representatives based solely on their stance on immigration.
Operation Dudula went on to transform itself into a political party and has done dismally on the ballot paper and most likely won’t manage to even register for the upcoming local government elections. In a nutshell the story of Operational Dudula has been that of vigilantism ( notwithstanding that immigration may constitute legitimate frustration) without any significant input.
We now have March and March, also formed out of frustration with illegal immigration which has gained more following than Operation Dudula was ever able to attract. Just like, Dudula, March and March dubiously claim to not be for politics but actively campaign against the ANC and the EFF accusing them of protecting illegal foreigners. The KZN concentrated entity has largely spared the DA which as we pointed out earlier in this article that it also advocates for state-led interventions in dealing with immigration.
However, unlike Operation Dudula, March and March has done more flirting with political parties in particular Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party and ActionSA. With Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie having softened his stance on immigration after becoming a minister in the Government of National Unity, MKP ActionSA and IFP have become dominant on the immigration issue hoping to gain votes. Currently it appears as if MKP stands the best chance of benefiting electorally from the so-called immigration vote.
Except for on-stage endorsements as well as occasional media statements in support of each other, nothing formally ties March and March to any of the mentioned political parties. In that sense if the pressure group led a violent protest with visible presence of political parties, none of them would take responsibility for what would have happened.
That the leadership of March and March is itself largely informal and was never elected by anyone, makes accountability some what of a foreign concept to the group. It is because of this lack of structure and political clarity that some within March and March, genuinely believe Vhatsonga and VhaVenda people are foreigners and or they don’t belong in provinces such as Gauteng, KZN or Western Cape. Some of these individuals with such dangerous misconceptions are in leadership and among them there are those who have harboured these notions for longer having been in the forefront of Operation Dudula.
This means during their decade or so activism on the immigration issue, they have not learned simple ethnic dynamics about their country, nor have they been sensitised about the evils of tribalism and ethnic politics in general.
With the numbers it commands March and March should not be allowed to carry on in the manner Operation Dudula did. Accountability must be demanded of the group. Whether its on the singing of backward songs such as “Shangaan phume’ndleleni” the promotion of perceptions that people are likely foreigners if they are dark or don’t speak any of the Nguni languages.
It’s exactly this kind of reckless rhetoric that Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba sought to caution against when she addressed the group during its recent protest in Polokwane. The message flew past them. They interpreted it as somewhat of a change of stance by Ramathuba who has for years now campaigned against the effects of illegal immigration proposing solutions and never spreading hate, a stance she continues to pursue with a great deal of sensitivity.
More people should add their voices to the Premier’s teachings about the diversity, not just of Limpopo but the entire South Africa.
Another dangerous trait of the anti-immigration movement is the reluctance to engage in meaningful discourse habitually complaining about being gas-lighted whenever counter arguments are presented.
Prominent individuals leading the movement have been saying absolutely ridiculous things such as putting South Africa’s population at over a million people, claiming the government could afford to give each citizen a million Rand a year for the rest of their lives. These are obvious signs of gross ignorance but the masses follow them anyway and believe these as well as other baseless notions that if not corrected through sound political education, may trigger a wave of unprecedented black on black violence.
