South African anti-migrant 'vigilantes' register as party for next year's polls
Source: The Guardian
South African anti-migrant ‘vigilantes’ register as party for next year’s polls
Operation Dudula changes tactics from evictions and violence, with plans to fight elections on platform of expelling foreigners
Simon Allison in Johannesburg
Tue 26 Sep 2023 06.30 BST
Last modified on Tue 26 Sep 2023 08.53 BST
An anti-migrant vigilante organisation in South Africa has registered as a political party and plans to contest seats in next year’s general elections.
Operation Dudula, whose name means “to force out” in Zulu, wants all foreign nationals who are in the country unofficially to be deported.
The party, which first emerged in Johannesburg’s Soweto township after riots in 2021, claims to have widespread support, with a formal presence in seven of South Africa’s nine provinces. It claims to be planning to stand candidates in 1,500 of the country’s 4,468 voting districts.
Many Operation Dudula followers have faced allegations of hate speech and physical violence. They have staged protests outside embassies, turned people away outside hospitals to prevent foreign nationals from accessing state medical services, and conducted door-to-door searches of businesses in poorer areas demanding to see identity documents.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/sep/26/south-africa-anti-migrant-vigilante-operation-dudula-registers-as-party-2024-elections
Alternate non-walled link: https://archive.li/NjAKh
