FED-UP SA CITIZENS TAKE TO THE STREETS, BLAMING FOREIGNERS FOR CRIME AND THE UNEMPLOYMENT CRISIS
DATE: 22 February 2022
AUTHOR: NGO Connect
Most South Africans do not tolerate violence against non-South Africans, but the number who do is growing – including many of our politicians. Nhlanhla Lux Dlamini, known as Nhlanhla Lux, is credited for saving Maponya Mall when violence and looting flared across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng after former president Jacob Zuma’s arrest in July 2021. Maponya Mall is the biggest mall in Soweto.
Lux and a group of armed Soweto residents in military fatigues camped outside the mall for days, facing and returning gunfire until army and police reinforcements eventually arrived. Lux took on a hero-like status and was given a national platform to comment on a wide range of issues. Weeks before the defence of Maponya, Lux’s movement, Operation Dudula, marched to remove “illegal” foreigners by force.
According to Human Rights Watch, 18 migrants were killed when violence spread in September 2019. Social media posts claiming foreigners were responsible for increasing levels of human trafficking went viral last year, leading to multiple marches, claims which SAPS and fact-checkers have debunked.
Dr Steven Gordon from the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) said surveys show a majority of South Africans do not tolerate violence against immigrants, but the high number of people who support violence is worrying.
In the HSRC’s 2019 South African Social Attitudes Survey, about one million adults admitted they had committed a violent act against international migrants in the previous year. About 10 million said they hadn’t committed violence against foreigners but they would be prepared to take part.
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