GROUNDUP: Five claims by March and March’s leader — and what the evidence actually shows

‘We’re not xenophobic, but…’ Last week, the movement’s founder made several misleading and divisive claims. We debunk them here.

March and March’s leaders say their movement is not xenophobic. They say it is a peaceful organisation. But the facts say otherwise, and March and March is playing with fire.

Its founder, former radio journalist Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, casts her movement as legitimate activism in the best interests of the country. She has convinced some of her supporters that she is not xenophobic, that she supports legal immigration, and that all she wants is efficient law enforcement.

But Ngobese-Zuma’s rhetoric draws on South Africa’s long history of violent xenophobic protests and tropes that dehumanise and scapegoat Africans from other countries, whether here legally or illegally.

In the past few years, anti-immigrant sentiment has been stoked by social media in what appears to be a coordinated campaign. In recent months, March and March has been a leading voice. It is yet to disclose where it has got the money to buy T-shirts or organise transport for leaders and supporters to travel to marches across the country.

There have also been several copycat protests recently, inspired but not organised by March and March. They have been violent. People have been forced from their homes, houses have been burnt and immigrant-owned shops have been looted. At least two people were killed in Mossel Bay during anti-immigrant protests this past weekend.

At a press conference last week, Ngobese-Zuma made several misleading and divisive claims. We debunk them below.

“We… are the voice of the voiceless, the unemployed, the drug addicts, the women who are raped and trafficked every day from this country by foreign nationals. And we now say enough is enough,” she said.

South Africa has a rape crisis. About 120 women are raped every day. But immigration is not the cause. Studies have found that 28% to 34% of South African men have admitted to committing rape.

As for trafficking, according to the US government, South Africans and immigrants are victims. And both South Africans and foreigners – primarily from Asian and African countries – are perpetrators of this crime.

There is no evidence that immigrants are disproportionately involved in this, yet delivery drivers, spaza shop owners, informal traders and corner shopkeepers are the primary targets during March and March’s protests.

South Africa is a key link in the global illicit drug trade. International criminal groups from countries including Eastern Europe, China, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Tanzania and