Activist Ndabandaba leads Daveyton march urging foreign shops to close

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ExpandNkosikhona Ndabandaba takes part in a march in Daveyton on Monday calling for the eviction of illegal shop owners. Picture: Natasha Valoyi Story audio is generated using AI

Anti-illegal immigration activist Nkosikhona “Phakel’umthakathi” Ndabandaba led a march in Daveyton on Monday, calling on foreign nationals accused of operating businesses illegally to close their shops and leave the country.

Ndabandaba marched alongside local community members demanding that the businesses ceased operating until SA’s immigration and border control systems had been addressed.

“We are saying to them: go out of the country; let us fix the system in the country, and then you can come back when the country has got the system and the borders are fixed,” he said, adding that the local economy should prioritise South Africans.

Ndabandaba is expected to lead another march to the department of home affairs in Pretoria on Friday, where he intends to call on the department to address a Constitutional Court ruling concerning asylum seekers.

“They must revoke all asylum seekers; scrap all these applications in the system and tell these people to leave the country; let us fix our border and then we can welcome these people back.”

His demands come amid growing tensions in Daveyton, where residents have raised concerns about foreign-owned businesses they allege are operating without the necessary permits.

Residents said some foreign shop owners had allegedly ignored warnings issued since the March and March movement began earlier this year.

Daveyton resident Lebogang Malele told TimesLIVE the movement was beneficial to residents who were struggling to get foreign tenants to vacate their properties.

Malele said some property owners had allegedly allowed foreign nationals to rent their premises, only for the tenants to turn them into spaza shops despite concerns about their business permits.

“They only have permits to stay here; they don’t have business permits, but here they are turning our places into spaza shops, and we have been giving them warnings to vacate since the March and March movement (began), but they still refuse to vacate.”

Malele said residents hoped the latest march would help address their concerns and put pressure on those allegedly operating businesses without the required authorisation to comply with the law.

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