<\/p>\n
You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm\u00a0here.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: Violent anti-immigrant action in Durban is once again forcing a hard national conversation about law, borders and political responsibility.<\/p>\n
Clashes in the Durban CBD have renewed fears that frustration over illegal immigration is spilling into vigilantism, intimidation and attacks on businesses and individuals.<\/p>\n
Critics are warning that once people start taking the law into their own hands, the line between protest and criminality collapses.<\/p>\n
Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane has condemned the violence today and says checks, arrests and deportations are the job of Home Affairs and the police and not, as he terms it, self-appointed street enforcers.<\/p>\n
Mmusi Maimane, a very warm welcome. You\u2019ve said quite emphatically, don\u2019t fight crime by becoming a criminal. Do you think that line has been crossed in Durban?<\/p>\n
MMUSI MAIMANE: Thank you so much for having me. I think, first of all, one of the key challenges is that there\u2019s no doubt about the fact that illegal immigration, of course, in and of itself is a crime, where to be in a country illegally is a crime.<\/p>\n
When people seek to say now in order to deal with that particular matter, they themselves must take the law into their own hands.<\/p>\n
What they do when that happens, you introduce street justice that effectively will become an eye for an eye, which will leave this nation blind.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
The second issue is that it dissolves pressure away from the institutions that must be held accountable: policing. If there\u2019s a failure, if someone commits a crime, the police must be able to deal with that. If someone enters the country illegally, border management is supposed to deal with that.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
Xenophobic protests escalate with countrywide shutdown planned for 4 May
\n\u2018Clean-up campaign\u2019 in Durban CBD turns into witch hunt for immigrants
\nThe resonance of Operation Dudula<\/p>\n
When those institutions are not held accountable, immigration certainly cannot begin inside the country, it begins at the border.<\/p>\n
So when we don\u2019t hold those institutions accountable and citizens feel that they have the right to then take the law into their own hands, they have no capacity to be able to distinguish who is South African and who is not.<\/p>\n
The greatest danger we face as a society is that eventually people will settle their own scores and make a decision as to who\u2019s here legally and who\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
This happened a few hours ago here in Durban. What thuggery is this from the Abahambe brigade? Where has our humanity gone Ngizwe must call his people to order pic.twitter.com\/wS9lSq5Sd5<\/p>\n
\u2014 Thibos (@_Msindazwe_) April 20, 2026<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: So what does this say today about the state\u2019s failure to enforce the law in that respect?<\/p>\n
MMUSI MAIMANE: When citizens have been accustomed to seeing people get away without accountability, it tells you that the state\u2019s capability of enforcing its own laws has failed. Therefore, we need to get back to fixing that.<\/p>\n
Some of the interventions that are needed [include] making sure that we fund border management adequately, transfer the missing police, because part of the issue when it comes to border management was that the police were not able to transfer into border management, and the recruitment of new police officers was not done. So it means our borders become porous.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Home Affairs is meant to be able to ensure that people are registered properly. Jeremy, no person is able to walk into any community and verify whether that person is South African or not. I wouldn\u2019t have that competence because I wouldn\u2019t know what type of papers they need.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
That right cannot be subordinated to any citizen. Then ultimately, when a crime takes place, of which this particular incident that took place in KwaZulu-Natal, has been something that has been deeply concerning.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
Why people from landlocked Lesotho cross the border illegally
\nOver 51 000 illegals deported since SA\u2019s GNU came to power \u2013 Schreiber<\/p>\n
There are allegations that this is in some ways a revenge for someone who personally was attacked by immigrants. What must happen is that act is an act of criminality. The police must investigate and must make sure conviction is achieved.<\/p>\n
So at this point in time, we have a history as a country where xenophobic attacks, or whatever they are called, has taken place and I would urge at this point in time that institutions that are designed to fight this issue must be held accountable.<\/p>\n
So if anyone wants to march to fight illegal immigration, the first port of entry must be at the police station, at the ministry of Home Affairs, to make sure that the border management is put together and verification is done properly.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: Mmusi Maimane, there is a fine line, though. I understand the condemnation of vigilantism, but you can\u2019t ignore public anger about illegal immigration, which is evident in Durban and in many other centres in this country.<\/p>\n
MMUSI MAIMANE: No, it is undeniable. In that sense I understand the frustration of citizens.<\/p>\n
It is not something that should be ignored and I think all citizens have a right to feel angry about this issue, but they must direct their anger at the right places, because if we then end up directing, personalising, or taking matters into our own hands, Jeremy, I promise you now there will come a time where even people who are here legally, just because of the colour of their skin, will be victims of crime.<\/p>\n
Therefore, I think we need to be careful not to create a context upon which we have circuitous violence.<\/p>\n
My ask, even still, right now, when I go to communities, whether it be in the inner city of Johannesburg, whether it\u2019s in eThekwini, the job that we\u2019ve got to do is work in partnership with law enforcement, and I want to call on government to take proactive steps so that citizens don\u2019t feel like their anger is being ignored.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: A lot of long-term solutions are needed, as you\u2019ve rightly pointed out, but how do you immediately lower the temperature in the Durban CBD?<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
MMUSI MAIMANE: This would be one where, whilst I\u2019m not always a big fan of deploying the army, but I think because of the incapability of policing, this is where the army needs to be able to keep communities safe so that Home Affairs and policing can do their jobs.<\/p>\n
All the army can do is, they can\u2019t investigate who\u2019s here legally or not, but (it provides) breathing space for institutions to work so that people are then verified and those who are here legally can remain within the country, and those who are not, clearly can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
SA\u2019s police are losing the war on crime
\nArmy prepares for Cape Town deployment
\nSending in the army to fight crime (again)<\/p>\n
It cannot be that a citizen who hasn\u2019t had a right of recourse, application at Home Affairs, and so on, can simply remain in the country in perpetuity. That is a breaking of the law in and of itself.<\/p>\n
But, of course, in this particular instance, you must be able to say, let\u2019s use the resources of the army in dealing with this particular matter, because it\u2019s a combination of border management, policing and Home Affairs.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: Of course, calling in the army comes with its own set of difficulties and problems, though, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
MMUSI MAIMANE: Undeniably. That\u2019s why I\u2019m saying all the army can do is use tactical support, use intelligence, and give the breathing room for the institutions that deal with the matter to be able to attend to it.<\/p>\n
The army can\u2019t police this matter, neither can they investigate it. That\u2019s not what the mandate should be.<\/p>\n
I think clear prescriptions as to what the army is there to do, and the police are there to do, and Home Affairs are there to do, must then be clearly put together in a joint coordinated effort.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: Mmusi Maimane, thank you very much indeed, leader of Build One South Africa.<\/p>\n