Local residents and community movements including March and March and the Kabokweni Community Movement, staged a peaceful protest in Kabokweni today, June 26.

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They marched from Khumbula, Newscom, and Mbonisweni, gathering outside the Kabokweni Shopping Complex before handing over a memorandum of grievances to the Kabokweni Police Station’s management, intended for Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu. The memorandum gives authorities seven days to respond to several key demands, including:

• Reserving all vacant jobs for South African citizens, barring undocumented immigrants from public schools and healthcare facilities, and penalising employers who hire illegal migrants.
• Auditing public sector employees for citizenship, reviewing foreign-owned private schools, and enforcing health standards in local spaza shops and food factories.
• Evicting illegal immigrants from state-owned and RDP houses, and intensifying police and military action against human trafficking, drug smuggling, and sexual abuse.
  The protest caused the closure of foreign-operated spaza shops and markets along Kabokweni Road for the day. This demonstration follows recent community dialogues regarding safety and infrastructure strain.