Durban – Operation Dudula may not have attracted the crowds it expected during its launch in Durban, but conveners said they were happy that their promulgated message reached the province of KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday.
The Durban leg saw about 80 members walk from the city hall to the Point police station.
When the protest ended, members began boarding buses that they had arrived in from as far as Gauteng.
“Like all other provinces, the people of KwaZulu-Natal are also affected by unemployment, poverty, and inequality,” said Operation Dudula national general secretary, Zandile Dabula.
“Graduates are despondent and have stopped searching for jobs, communities live in fear of criminals, abuse of alcohol and drugs have become the order of the day,” she said.
Dubula added that KZN was a province of patriotic men and women who want to live in a safe province and country.
She said KZN has been trying to join the rest of the country to accentuate problems affecting all South Africans, but was delayed by processes.
“We are grateful that the day has arrived where KZN is joining other patriotic South Africans to highlight the issues facing South Africa and threatening the safety and security and livelihoods of South Africans,” she said.
Dubula and other leaders addressed members outside the police station, watched closely by the SAPS and the Durban metro police’s public order policing units.
Shops closed temporarily in the Point Precinct when the protesters drew near to an area regarded by Dubula as having a large presence of people from other African countries, known as foreign nationals.
Operation Dudula, in its memorandum, described itself as a community-based movement where members of society highlight and report crimes, social ills, and transgressions of laws and municipal by-laws; including employers who may be violating immigration and employment laws; and compromising the country’s security and stability.
The Department of Home Affairs’s immigration services accepted the memorandum from Dudula members.
Daily News