By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider 

Leader of ActionSA Herman Mashaba has stated that he would start a war against foreign nationals and says that he intends to dispatch his special police unit which will report to South Africans on a monthly basis. 

Mashaba has noted that this is what he intends to do should he be elected as mayor of Johannesburg, emphasising that he will immediately establish a special police unit which will be solely dedicated to arresting foreign nationals that reside in the city. 

“There will be a unit operating on a daily basis and I will want a report that I will present to the residents of Johannesburg every month” said Mashaba. “We will have a special unit within our metro police to make sure that when they find them, they take them to Lindela or the Minister of Home Affairs must tell us where to take them” Mashaba continued. 

This call for the repatriation of undocumented foreign nationals is nothing new for the ActionSA party as they have consistently supported the activities of March and March, who have organised protests for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa.

 During the period ActionSA have expropriated buildings which have been illegally occupied and have entered into private partnerships in order for them to be converted into student accommodation and affordable rental housing. 

He mentioned that during his term as mayor he found that 80% of people found in these buildings were undocumented foreign nationals. “We had these so-called human rights lawyers and NGOs arguing with me that I was exaggerating the number and, according to them, it was 26%. Let’s say my figure of 80% was wrong.

 Even at 26%, you cannot build a nation or a city when 26% of the people are unaccounted for.” said Mashaba. “I want to make clear to South Africans that in the city I will govern, I will not accept even one undocumented person.

 I will declare war against them and I want everyone to know, including the human rights lawyers, that they can take me to court and we will fight, including home affairs” he continued.

 Currently, thousands of Malawian citizens are stranded in Durban as they are waiting for repatriation buses from their government following an announcement made by March and March that all undocumented migrants must leave the country by 30 June. 

Mashaba also noted an infrastructure backlog as he stated that when he left office the backlog amounted to R170 Billion. He also added that he would collapse entities such as City Power and Johannesburg Water as he emphasised they were unnecessary and costly.