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

A picket against anti-immigrant sentiment at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, May 2026. Archive photo: Matthew Hirsch
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…

Read More: Five claims by March and March’s leader — and what the evidence actually shows.

Lack of vocational training: Limited access to vocational training and skills development.