Durban shutdown will go ahead

Anti-immigration group March and March will hold its planned protest in Durban on 30 June, despite the city’s municipality warning that it should not go ahead.

March and March have repeatedly called for illegal foreigners to leave South Africa, saying they should leave the country before 30 June 2026.

The group have planned demonstrations across the country on this date, with many labelling it a national shutdown.

Confirmed locations for these protests include Kimberley, Kroonstad, and Port Shepstone, with the main protest taking place in Durban.

This location for the main demonstration is fitting, as March and March was founded in Durban by local resident Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma.

The group has already organised several marches in the Durban area, attracting large crowds calling for illegal immigrants to leave the country.

In a letter to the Ethekwini municipal manager, March and March alleged that their application to demonstrate on 30 June had been denied.

The group said it had engaged with the municipality and had complied with all laws surrounding public gatherings.

It said it would proceed with the planned demonstration and asked the municipality for clarification on why its application had been turned down.

A spokesperson for the municipality responded to the letter, saying the demonstration planned by March and March posed several safety risks.

They said the route proposed by the anti-immigrant organisation had multiple security risks, and that alternative routes had been proposed.

The spokesperson said the municipality’s main issue was the proposed march’s starting and ending points, which “present significant safety and security risks.”

The spokesperson said that March and March turned down the alternative routes, prompting the municipality to say the demonstration “should not proceed along unauthorised routes.”

They clarified that this was not the same as the group’s application being denied, and that the protest could still go ahead.

In its letter, March and March said it had accommodated the alternative route suggested by the municipality.

Currently, the march in Durban is planned to proceed, but it is not clear whether the route follows the municipality’s suggestions.

Fears of unrest

Ngobese-Zuma has repeatedly said the demonstrations organised by March and March are intended as peaceful protests.

However, many Durban residents are fearing violence on 30 June, after previous demonstrations in the area have led to foreigners being harassed and intimidated.

During previous protests, businesses have been forced to close, fearing vandalism or property damage from angry demonstrators.

The city has had to construct temporary shelters for foreign nationals seeking repatriation before the 30 June deadline.

This includes the residences in Sherwood Park, where roughly 9,000 Malawian nationals are staying as they wait to leave the country.

So far, an estimated 1,700 Malawian nationals have left the country, with buses being organised to transport them.

Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, has said the deportation process underway in Sherwood Park must be conducted in a way that upholds the rights of everyone living there.

In other parts of the country, anti-immigration marches have had dire consequences, with two Mozambican nationals being killed during protests in Mossel Bay.

A Malawian man was also killed near Pietermaritzburg after an anti-immigration protest occurred in the city.

The worries of Durban residents are also fuelled by memories of South Africa’s civil unrest in 2021, which took a devastating toll on the city.

The unrest was prompted by the arrest of Jacob Zuma and led to the looting and destruction of many businesses in KwaZulu-Natal.

The impact of the riots on Durban was massive, with the cost of repairing damage in the city estimated at R1.5 billion.

Although the protest organised by March and March is not connected to the events of 2021, the damage to the city is still fresh in the minds of many residents.

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Photos of previous March and March demonstrations

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