Statement

The ANC Veterans League is disturbed by the violent clashes that took place outside the Durban Home Affairs office on Che Guevara Rd on Thursday, 3 September 2026, after about 100 March and March supporters attempted a ‘clean-up campaign’ against foreign nationals who have been camping outside Home Affairs after fleeing anti-immigrant tensions in their communities.

The language and conduct of March and March evoke the dangerous logic of ethnic cleansing.

Such words and deeds have no place in South Africa. Their behaviour is completely at odds with our history in South Africa of constitutionalism, non-racialism, human dignity and the rule of law.

Reports of what happened include attacks by March and March supporters on monitors,

followed by the use of rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray. The Veterans League believes these incidents can be avoided through fair, decisive, proactive action by the different arms of government. It also salutes the monitors and activists who were attacked by the March and March supporters.

March and March is taking advantage of law enforcement agencies’ lacklustre approach to act

against them. With impunity and without permission, they are gathering and marching in

eThekwini as well as other parts of the country – committing violent attacks on foreign nationals

and getting away with it.

Left unchecked, what March and March are doing to foreign nationals, they are starting to do to

other South Africans on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality or identity, as they feel. And on

the other hand, they are seeking alliances with fellow ethnic chauvinists and racist players such

as AfriForum.

Just last week, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

(CERD)voiced grave concern over a surge this year in xenophobia and racist hate crimes

against migrants in South Africa. For the ANC, where non-racialism and unity have been the

cornerstone of our values, for South Africa to be sent this kind of warning is a damning

indictment of our inability to protect human rights.The ANC Veterans League calls on law enforcement agencies to be more proactive. This

includes:

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Visible, preventative policing where the police must not be seen to take sides

Proper investigations followed by prosecutions where they have been killings, looting and

unlawful evictions

Stopping unlawful identity checks and raids of homes and shops. No individual,

organisation or political movement has the right to take the law into their own hands.

Taking action against the organisers, including in respect of hate speech.

The Veterans League also calls on its members and ANC members to support efforts to

integrate documented foreign nationals in communities and defend them against opportunistic

vigilante groups that seek to sow divisions to further their own interests. In this way, foreign

nationals, such as those in eThekwini, will not have to be camping outside Home Affairs for fear

of returning to their communities.

ISSUED BY THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS VETERANS LEAGUE (ANCVL).

ENDS//.

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Snuki Zikalala

082 561 3900