Zwelinzima Vavi criticises anti-migrant protests as dishonest diversion

South African Federation of Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has criticised recent protests across the country, accusing organisers of diverting public attention away from systemic failures.

Two marches took place in Gauteng this week. The March and March Movement led an anti-illegal migration demonstration demanding the removal of undocumented foreigners.

On Wednesday, Vavi joined the Communication Workers Union and post office employees on a march in Pretoria focused on challenges at the South African Post Office, including retrenchments and low salaries.

Speaking at the protest, Vavi dismissed the campaign against undocumented migrants as dishonest. He said the target is not illegal migrants but all migrants, calling it xenophobia in its purest form. He argued that progressive people must reject it.

Vavi said such movements redirect the frustrations of the working class toward vulnerable groups instead of the real enemy. He added that instead of reinforcing the march against job losses at the post office, which have nothing to do with migration, organisers are focusing elsewhere. He said the collapse of the post office is due to government policy failures, commercialisation, privatisation, corruption and neglect.

Vavi accused organisers of using migrants as scapegoats for the country’s broader failures. He said a dangerous narrative is being promoted that diverts attention from those responsible for the collapse. He added that the migration crisis is wrongly blamed for mass unemployment and poverty.

He noted that the protests have racial and ethnic undertones, with demonstrators often ignoring white-owned companies to target black migrants. He referenced recent anti-migrant protests in KwaZulu-Natal that turned violent, where people from Limpopo were beaten and accused of being migrants regardless of their legal status.

Vavi called for worker unity to address the collapse of public services, saying the loss of the post office would affect rural communities. He emphasised that millions of unemployed people in South Africa have nothing to do with migration but are a result of government policy choices.

While acknowledging challenges posed by illegal immigration and crime, Vavi warned against generalisations. He said criminal acts by some migrants must be addressed by isolating and arresting those individuals, but no group should be labelled as the problem.