THE anti-illegal immigration movement says it has been 34 days since over 200 000 citizens took to the streets, with over 300 marches in one day.

“We must categorically state that South Africans are not violent, South Africans are not xenophobic and their cry is that the soul of South Africa must be protected,” said March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma.

She added, “These protests were free from any violence; this was not occasioned by the wasteful expenditure and the dramatisation of the people’s pain by their very own government. We must state over and over again that there was no destruction of property.”

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Ngobese-Zuma highlighted, “Thousands of immigrants who abused our healthcare facilities have also left the country, saving government millions in expenditure for medication, surgeries, clinic and hospital admissions and therefore many citizens’ lives were saved and many South Africans for the first time in a long time managed to get access to the healthcare that they deserve, therefore allowing our healthcare workers to work under a far more conducive environment that allows them to give attention to South African patients.

“We have seen a significant reduction in crime, particularly in areas such as the Durban Central district, where it was stated that the crime has reduced by over 28%, a confirmation that irregular migration has an impact on crime. These results come from the clean-ups we also have in the Durban CBD which have contributed immensely to more police visibility, less illegal businesses operating, and safer and cleaner spaces.

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She continued, “Gradually, we are seeing a large number of foreign nationals leaving our rural areas and townships, opening space for our people to run and control the township economy.”

She has noted the resistance by alleged beneficiaries of crime. “We have seen Somalis, Pakistanis, Ethiopians, Nigerians which are some of the countries who have given our communities a very difficult time refusing to leave, while many continue to conduct illegal activities while disguising them as businesses; they have now taken it a step further and decided to pay other South Africans the protection fee,” she said.

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Ngobese-Zuma concluded that the movement was not born of hatred or of a desire to secure a political position in this government.

“We wish to record that our efforts have not been in vain, the submissions by the good South Africans are slowly yielding positive results. We must continue to fight; our problems are far from over,” she said.

March and March vowed that Thursday marches will continue throughout the country, and that phase two of the deadline for illegal immigrants to leave the country ends on September 30.

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