Arya News - South Africa’s Zulu king said migrants should leave the country after violent clashes near his home.
South Africa’s Zulu king said migrants should leave the country after violent clashes near his home.
At an event commemorating the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana, King Misuzulu kaZwelithini used a derogatory term for migrants from neighbouring countries and said they needed to go.
The Zulu monarch said a growing number of local women were entering into relationships with foreigners, and while the resulting children could stay, the men could not.
The 51-year-old has no formal political power , but his remarks are closely watched by 12 million Zulus who consider him a custodian of traditions and a moral authority.
Immigration has become a key political issue in South Africa and the king had been widely expected to address the subject after clashes at a KwaZulu-Natal school where foreigners were blamed for an admissions crisis.
Police were forced last month to use water cannon and stun grenades to break up demonstrations at a primary school in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
Anti-immigration campaigners accused Addington Primary School of prioritising the children of immigrants over South Africans, leading to violent clashes.
Local authorities have denied this allegation or that a shortage of places stemmed from immigrants.
A woman and child flee their home after violent anti-immigrant protests in the Johannesburg area - Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg News
The king called for dialogue and told his followers that they must not take the law into their own hands, but also used a derogatory term for African migrants and said they must leave.
He said: “What happened at Addington shows that we are being compromised by our sisters. But what can we do, because their children are our nephews and nieces?”
“However, we must sit down and discuss this. Even if my nephew or niece is born of a foreign national, that foreign national must leave, while my nephew or niece should remain.”
His comments echo those made by his late father, King Goodwill Zwelithini, who urged migrants in 2015 to “pack their belongings”.
Migrants accused of crime and stealing jobs
South Africa’s position as the richest and most industrialised nation on the continent, as well as its relative freedom and political stability, has long made it a favourite destination for Africans seeking jobs or a better life.
Most arrive from neighbouring countries such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Mozambique.
After the fall of apartheid, the country also embraced a generous asylum system, allowing applicants to work while their cases were decided.
Yet in a country with unemployment hovering around 33 per cent, the arrivals have long been blamed for taking jobs, committing crime and overwhelming public services.
The hostility has at times spilt over into murderous violence and looting .
Riots against foreigners left at least 61 dead in May 2008, and there have been further outbreaks in 2015 and 2019.
Political parties have promised to take a tougher line on undocumented migration as politicians see a crackdown as a vote-winner.
Grassroots vigilante groups such as Operation Dudula have sprung up, singling out foreign businesses or picketing clinics to insist that only those with South African documents can use public services.
A member of Operation Dudula (right) clashes with an immigrant parent outside a clinic - Tommy Trenchard
The latest flare-up came at the start of the school term, with allegations that 66 local children had not been enrolled at Addington Primary because of a lack of space, and that more than 90 per cent of those admitted were the children of immigrants.
Fighting and stone-throwing broke out when angry parents backed by anti-immigration campaigners attempted a headcount of foreign pupils as they left the school.
Provincial education officials later said that immigrants made up 37 per cent of the school, and 12 pupils were undocumented.
The education department said that across the country, foreign pupils made up less than two per cent of pupils.
Overall, the number of migrants in the country is disputed. South Africa’s official statistics body last year said the immigrant population had risen from 2.1 per cent in 1996 to 3.9 per cent in 2022, or a total of 2.4 million people.
Lizette Lancaster, of South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies think tank, told the BBC that the king’s comments only served to “fuel anti-migrant sentiment and should be strongly condemned”.
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