Cyril Xaba, the mayor of eThekwini metro had to be whisked away by a strong contingent of police after a group of anti immigrant demonstrators bayed for his blood.
Xaba had been dispatched to the volatile area of Berea after a violent confrontation between locals and foreign nationals erupted, hoping that his presence would calm tensions. Instead, the protesters led by March and March heckled, refusing to be addressed by him. The group, armed with traditional weapons, went on a tirade unleashing vulgar language directed at Xaba, who is also on the list of potential mayors that the ANC wants to field ahead of the crucial November 4 elections.
“Xaba must f*** off. We would not be addressed by the ANC because they have sold out South Africans. They are protecting foreign nationals more than us,” one protester charged.
The March and March had organised the protest to the metro’s Che Guevara Street, formerly Moore Road, to force the hundreds of foreign nationals to be sent back to their places of origin. The group, mainly of Congolese origin, fled their homes in May fearing what they described as a targeted attack. They first sought shelter at Durban Central police station, but were refused refuge. They subsequently resorted to erecting makeshift tents braving the cold of the night outside the Moore Road refugee centre. The grouping, comprising children and women, wants the government to provide them with a safe alternative accommodation.
On Thursday, SAPS and the metro traffic cops formed a shield, forming a human barricade between locals and foreign nationals to separate the rival groupings from trading blows.
While addressing the crowd, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, the leader of March and March, demanded that migrant women and children should be sent away while men meet South Africans out in the open.
“We want them to come out and do what they did the last time. They must put women and children away and show themselves,” Ngobese-Zuma dared.
It’s not the first time that the two groupings had taken each other on. Last week in the same vicinity, the situation turned violent when foreign nationals pelted locals with stones. This after the South African demonstrators ordered foreign nationals to leave the area citing hygiene reasons.
Several people were arrested.
The protest was also attended by, among others, the provincial leaders of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party and ActionSA.