Several organisations under the banner #PutSouthAfricaFirst are marching towards the Nigerian and Zimbabwean embassies to call for locals to be prioritised.
Small groups of civil society are marching from Church Square in Pretoria to the Nigerian Embassy on Wednesday, 23 September 2020. They are protesting against human trafficking and illegal foreign nationals. Picture: Abigail Javier/EWN
PRETORIA – Some South African organisations and ordinary citizens have gathered in the Pretoria CBD on Wednesday calling for mass action against illegal immigrants and an end to what they call the abuse of South Africa’s diplomacy.
Amid widespread economic decline, devastating unemployment levels and increase levels of crime in South Africa, protesters are stoking the fire against migrants.
Several organisations under the banner #PutSouthAfricaFirst are marching towards the Nigerian and Zimbabwean embassies to call for locals to be prioritised.
#PutSouthAfricaFirst Ike Khumalo, addressing the social ills faced by South Africans. He says government has put the security of the country and its people at risk. VM pic.twitter.com/iKndhw6ch2
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) September 23, 2020
#PutSouthAfricaFirst The group is expected to march to the Nigerian and Zimbabwean embassies in Pretoria. VM pic.twitter.com/iOSYvfCFaS
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) September 23, 2020
Put South Africans first – that’s what a group calling themselves Only One SA is demanding.
Carrying placards and waving South Africans flags, citizens like Ike Khumalo said that the state was rewarding foreign nationals with jobs and businesses rather than deporting them.
“Everything that we want, they want. We can’t give jobs to the whole continent. We are competing at the hospital, if you want to see an orthopedic, you must wait until next year February because in front of you there are illegal immigrants. You want to board a train, they have destroyed the train infrastructure. You want Eskom, they have destroyed them. There is no Constitution that can serve everyone. Who is everyone?”
Others here said that their demonstration was not Afrophobic or xenophobic but a call for law and order.
“It’s not a xenophobic march, we’re here against human trafficking, drug trafficking and against illegal immigrants.”
The group is expected to hand over a memorandum of demands to the Nigerian and Zimbabwean embassies.
GALLERY: Put South Africans First march heads to Nigerian Embassy
