Activities of the anti-migrants group, Operation Dudula have hit a new height as protesters marched through the streets of Durban demanding that the government take strong action to deal with high numbers of illegal immigrants.
Controversial groups, the Alexandra Dudula Movement and Operation Dudula, last month, started campaigns against undocumented foreign nationals and the campaigns have been supported by South African communities who feel marginalized.
The National Secretary of Operation Dudula, Zandile Dabula said “the issues are that people are coming into the country and they are not documented and the government is doing nothing about it, and it’s difficult to find them when they commit a crime. We just need our departments to actually enforce the laws that are there, because these laws are not enforced.”
A Pew Research poll conducted in 2018 showed that 62% of South Africans viewed immigrants as a burden on society by taking jobs and social benefits and that 61% of South Africans thought that immigrants were more responsible for crime than other groups.
The Deputy Chairperson of the movement, Dan Radebe, revealed that the protest moved to Durban because it houses the busiest harbour in the Southern African Development Community.
“That is the very same harbour they are using as the point of entry for all the fake goods that have flooded our country, killing our textile industry which then affects the unemployment rate as well.” Radebe added.
The recent rise in anti-immigrant campaigns in South Africa has left immigrants and refugees fearing for their safety. Understandably because of a history of Xenophobic attacks in South Africa, however, Operation Dudula thinks otherwise.
“I don’t understand why we should be called xenophobic because all we are asking is that people need to be documented when they come to this country. It’s done in other countries but people are not called xenophobic, but why are we being called xenophobic when South Africans are doing it?”
The United Nations International Organization for Migration, says between 2010 and 2017, the immigrant community in South Africa increased from 2 million people to 4 million people. The proportion of South Africa’s total population that is foreign-born increased from 2.8% in 2005 to 7% in 2019.