Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

25 June 2026

3-minute read

In a press briefing led by March and March yesterday, more than 20 anti-illegal immigration organisations and civic groups have vowed to take peaceful and lawful action on June 30^th, insisting that their campaigns are targeted at undocumented migrants and government failures in immigration enforcement laws.

Spokesperson Sandile Dube stated that they have put measures in place to ensure that third force criminal elements do not infiltrate the march next Tuesday. Among them are the March and March posters that highlight “No Weapons!” as well as the message they have communicated that all protests will be “in line with the constitution of South Africa”. He acknowledged that the purpose of the protest is to hold government accountable and to get undocumented migrants to self-deport.

But what happens after the march on the 30^th of June?

According to Sandile, the current situation is a stage of “resistance” – to the illegal immigrants in South Africa and among the immigrants themselves. Through the march, the stage they are hoping to attain is the “acceptance” stage, where the problem of undocumented migrants is acknowledged.

Beyond the 30^th of June, Sandile says that they cannot “just have an open-ended campaign.” While the group does understand that all illegal immigrants will not be convicted immediately, they have “no option but to keep the message escalated, (and) intensify our campaigns”.

The protests are “not perpetrated on legal immigrants,” Sandile emphasized, but on undocumented migrants. Illegal immigrants who run businesses and employ other undocumented migrants may also be involved in doing other illegal things like kidnapping, drug trafficking and human trafficking, which has no place in this country.

Sandile declined to comment on the statement by March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma where she questioned why South Africans should care whether Palestinians or Israelis are in SA, declaring that as a religious conflict. Subsequently, she received much backlash on social media for her “mischaracterisation” of the issue, with many people stating that the issue was one of justice, solidarity and genocide. He emphasized that the majority of South Africans side with the Palestinians, so for the March and March movement, the issue is a “non-starter.”

However, Sandile reiterated Ngobese-Zuma’s statement that March and March does not receive its funding from Israel and emphasized this as “a very offensive comment,” that the movement rejects with contempt. He described March and March as “a civic movement which is non-political.”

Listen to the full interview with Ml Sulaimaan Ravat and Sandile Dube here.