Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma has hit back at a group of foreign nationals camped outside Durban’s Home Affairs refugee office, accusing them of “playing victim” with the help of donor-funded organisations and accusing South African media of giving them favourable coverage.
“I must give it to them, they have mastered the art of playing victim!!” the March and March founder wrote.
She was responding to a media statement issued on Tuesday by the group, which has been living on Che Guevara Road since 22 May.
The group warned that March and March plans to return to the site on Thursday for another “cleanup operation” and appealed to churches, human rights organisations and members of the public to form a human chain around the camp.
Ngobese-Zuma said the group’s statement was an example of how NGOs supporting them influence media coverage.
“Imagine issuing a whole Media Statement giving instructions to the media about what they must and mustn’t do,” she wrote.
“And guess what, because our media is weak, one sided, full of propaganda and paid by these organisations they will bow to their wishes.”
She added: “But we will keep going no matter if they all gang up against us… we keep going not for ourselves but because if we fail, we fail the future generations of this country.”
The group’s statement, signed by Bishop Raphael Bahebwa and Kafuti Muyumba, sets out its version of what happened on 3 September and how the group came to be living on the road.
“Last Thursday March and March attacked us – all documented refugees – who have been forced to live on Che Guevara Road since 22 May,” the statement says.
The group says it spent the winter living on the road after being forced from their homes and having their businesses “seized or destroyed by fascist mobs”.
It says two people have died while living at the site.
According to the group, residents were initially promised temporary accommodation at North Beach, next to the Elangeni, and at Mansel Road.
They say they were driven out by mobs after arriving at those locations.
The group says it then went to Durban Central Police Station seeking protection but was assaulted there.
It also disputes March and March’s version of what happened on 3 September.
According to their statement, March and March arrived at the camp accompanied by members of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party and police.
The group says police initially formed a line between the two sides, but March and March supporters pushed through it.
“When they arrived the police tried to keep a line between them and us but they pushed the police out of the way and attacked us,” the statement says.
It says police then used stun grenades and other crowd-control measures.
The group accuses police of allowing March and March supporters to approach the camp while carrying weapons. It says the movement should have been kept at least 200 metres away from the refugees.
The group is now warning that it fears further violence on Thursday.
“Now March and March say that they will return to Che Guevara Road tomorrow for another ‘cleanup operation’,” the statement says.
“Unless the state acts to stop them they will arrive with weapons and they will attack us again,” the statement reads.
The group also rejects calls for its members to be removed from South Africa.
It says March and March has established what it calls a “legal arm” following a meeting with AfriForum and that legal action has been threatened to secure their deportation.
“This will never happen. It would be a gross violation of international and national law to deport documented refugees,” the statement reads.
The group says government continues to push for residents either to return to the communities they fled or to be moved to the Lindela migrant detention centre in Gauteng.
It says some members have agreed to go to Lindela, but that this is an outcome government has pushed for and which the UNHCR has agreed to.
The group also rejects the KwaZulu-Natal premier’s reported call for them to “go back home”.
“We are refugees and cannot go back to the countries from which we fled due to wars,” the statement says.
It says residents cannot return to the communities they fled because they fear being attacked again.
The group has also linked its fears to the November elections, saying March and March has promised to mobilise every Thursday until then.
“Which means that until November we will not be safe,” it says.
Those who do not want to go to Lindela are asking government for safe temporary accommodation and protection from groups they say have attacked them.
