By Sihle Mavuso
In a major escalation, the mayor of Inkosi Langalibalele local municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands has told property owners in the town of Estcourt to stop renting out their properties to illegal foreign nationals.
Mayor Mduduzi Myeza from the conservative Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) made this directive on his official Facebook account on Thursday this week.
It followed a series of campaigns that his municipality has waged to drive out illegal immigrants from the municipality.
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In the post, Myeza said after the long Easter weekend, he will lead a campaign to ensure that all foreign nationals are forced out of the area.
“After the Easter holidays, we will face foreign nationals head-on; their time is over, especially in town (Estcourt). I have heard that some of them say they are not going anywhere; we will see who shall have the last word on the matter,” he said in the post.
He later commented that the property owners, more especially those in the town of Estcourt, should stop leasing their buildings to foreign nationals to run their businesses.
“Those people who are owning the buildings particularly in town they must stop giving the illegal foreigners buildings,” the radical Myeza added.
His directive drew widespread support and condemnation from some of his Facebook followers, and among those who supported it was Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, the leader of the March and March Movement, which has waged several campaigns to highlight the plight of immigrants in the country’s social services.
Late last month, Myeza was part of the anti-illegal immigration march in Durban, which was organised by the March and March Movement in conjunction with Operation Dudula. Other political parties that joined that march were the Umkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) and ActionSA.
Early this week, the March and March Movement and others led a protest march that turned violent in KuGompo City (formerly East London). The march was to protest the installation of Solomon Ogbonna Eziko as the Igwe (King) of East London.
