March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma addresses the media recently during a briefing ahead of the planned June 30 demonstrations over illegal immigration.
Organisers of the planned June 30 marches have cast the campaign as a push for stricter immigration enforcement, but government officials, analysts and civil society groups warn the mobilisation has already sparked fear, displacement and intimidation among migrant communities, including refugees, asylum seekers and documented foreign nationals.
The demonstrations, led by anti-illegal immigration movements such as March and March, come after weeks of escalating rhetoric centred on a self-imposed deadline for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa.
According to reports, police and private security structures had identified Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape , and the Eastern Cape as possible flashpoints.
The government has insisted that June 30 will be a normal day and not a national shutdown. It has warned that no private individuals or groups have the authority to demand documentation from members of the public, block access to schools, clinics, hospitals, or businesses, or decide who may live in communities.
