Civic groups in Butterworth, Eastern Cape, have marched against illegal immigration and its impact on local employment, part of a broader wave of demonstrations against undocumented foreign nationals across multiple provinces.
Protesters delivered several memorandums during the two-to-three-hour march, targeting various government departments including the labour department, municipality offices, and the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) in the town also known as Gcuwa.
The march concluded at the Butterworth Police Station, where one of the memorandums was handed over.
The core grievance, according to demonstrators, is that South Africans want priority in services they claim are being afforded to foreign nationals, particularly regarding employment concerns.
The secretary of one of the organizations involved in the march—Patriotic South Africa—alongside the March and March organisation and Operation Dudula, outlined the protesters’ position.
“As patriotic South Africans, we’re concerned about the uncontrolled influx of foreign nationals in our country and the lawlessness—they’re selling drugs, they’re doing all sorts of unlawful things,” the spokesperson said.
“We find that the government is pushing back the interests of South Africans in favour of the interests of foreigners, and we cannot have that in our own country. That’s why we are standing as patriotic South Africans, as March and March, and as Operation Dudula—we’re marching, we’re saying enough is enough.”
When asked how protesters identify which foreign nationals should leave, the secretary acknowledged difficulties, citing reports of fake documentation.
“We’ve been having reports of so many fake documents being produced for foreigners. So right now we don’t even know who is legal and who is not. It will be better for all the foreigners to just leave so that they make a fresh application into the country—then that way we know who is the actual legal foreigners and who are illegal foreigners.”
The demonstration in Butterworth is only one leg of planned actions. Similar marches took place in Mthatha days earlier, with further protests scheduled for other towns across the Eastern Cape in the coming days. Their call, as the secretary of Patriotic South Africans alluded to, is that—whether documented or not—foreign nationals should leave the country.
