About 50 people led by the Africa Diaspora Forum (ADF) picketed outside the offices of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba on Monday. This follows comments by the mayor linking undocumented immigrants and criminality in the city.

The Daily Maverick quoted Mashaba saying in a news conference to mark his first 100 days in office: “Anyone who’s been in the city illegally must be prepared to face us. We are not going to tolerate illegality in our city … I’m actually declaring war against illegality in our city.”

The Huffington Post reported Mashaba saying: “Anyone who is in the city illegally must be prepared to face the law. They must know we are not going to be the government that tolerates criminality.”

The protesters were concerned that Mashaba’s comments could endanger immigrants in the city, especially given the outbreaks of violence that have taken place in the past decade.

A large contingent of metro police watched over the protesters as they called for the mayor to come down and accept their memorandum.

Marc Gbaffou‚ chairperson of the ADF‚ accused politicians of using immigrants as a scapegoat for failing to deal with the challenges facing the country. He said that the high level of undocumented immigrants is also due to the delays and difficulties that immigrants experience at Home Affairs.

•Sourced from Business Day SA.

Photo shows protesters picketing against xenophobic comments reportedly ma

de by Mayor Herman Mashaba. Picture: IHSAAN HAFFEJEE

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