March and March to return to Che Guevara Road after clash at Durban refugee camp

March and March has announced plans to return to Che Guevara Road in Durban after a “clean-up” action outside the Home Affairs Refugee Reception Office on Thursday escalated into violence, when supporters confronted foreign nationals camped at the site.

What happened at the site

About 100 March and March supporters went to the pavement outside the Home Affairs office in what the group described as a “clean-up” campaign. The operation descended into violence when marchers picked up belongings belonging to the foreign nationals and stones were thrown. Police intervened to separate the groups and used crowd management measures to restore calm.

Police response and alleged assault

KwaZulu-Natal police said they were registering a case against a foreign national who allegedly assaulted a police officer with a stone during the confrontation.

“Police in KZN are in the process of registering a case against a foreign national who assaulted a police officer with a stone during a confrontation between people who were marching and foreign nationals who have been camping outside the Home Affairs office on Che Guevara Road at Umbilo in Durban,”

the provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Robert Netshiunda, said. He added that police had sufficient resources deployed to the area and that calm had been restored. He also warned that anyone found to have incited violence would face the law.

March and March claims

Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, a figure associated with March and March, said the group would return to Che Guevara Road after one of its members was allegedly assaulted and after a firearm was claimed to have been discharged in an earlier incident. She said:

“We are planning a march to Moore [Che Guevara] Road after one of our members was assaulted by a foreigner. They discharged a firearm and got away with it because police refuse to remove their tents on the streets, and they were provoking and swearing at South Africans.”

Ngobese-Zuma also alleged that some foreign nationals at the site had firearms and criticised police for not searching tents following the claimed firearm incident. She said:

“So the foreigners at Moore Road have guns. The community is being abused, robbed and insulted by these people, and you continue to normalise lawlessness?”

and

“Today, one of them discharged a firearm, but the South African Police Service refused to dismantle those tents on the road and search for the weapon. They claimed they need a warrant?”

The report notes that the firearm allegation has not been independently verified.

Criticism from civil society

The Siyafana Sonke Action Campaign (SSAC) condemned the alleged “clean-up” operation, accusing March and March leaders of targeting documented African refugees. SSAC said the refugees had endured months of displacement, deprivation and harassment, and that two refugees had died at the site. It said one recent death involved a medical condition worsened by exposure and inadequate nutrition.

SSAC also criticised state action, saying refugees had been told to return to communities from which they had allegedly been forced out and calling for immediate protection and temporary shelter. The organisation said anyone found to have committed acts of aggression or intimidation should be arrested and prosecuted. SSAC further described the language of “cleaning up” as dehumanising, saying it echoed the rhetoric of past genocides.

Ongoing investigations

Police said investigations into Thursday’s violence were continuing and that the arrested suspect would appear in court once all processes had been completed.