'Ramaphosa is misdirected' - SA activist Queen Vee shreds xenophobia speech

South African activist, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, has issued a sharp rebuttal to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national address on migration, claiming the President is fundamentally "misdirected" and relies on logistically impossible solutions to solve a deep-seated national crisis.

Ngobese-Zuma, representing the advocacy group March & March, argued that while grassroot pressure finally forced the presidency to acknowledge immigration as a core agenda item, the administration's proposed roadmap remains entirely out of touch with reality on the ground.

The activist noted that patriotic citizen groups have spent months and in some cases, years pushing the executive to formally recognize the scale of the immigration gridlock. She expressed mild satisfaction that the state finally validated long-standing public anxieties regarding the local economy and public safety.

“First of all, I do want to acknowledge that we are happy that he's acknowledged some of the things like, you know, our shops being taken over by foreign nationals," Ngobese-Zuma stated.

"He's acknowledged the issue of some of the crimes that they do in the country. He also acknowledged the labor markets, which has been now bombarded with people who are cheap labor coming from all across Africa to replace South Africans and break immigration laws,” she stated.

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However, Ngobese-Zuma strongly rejected President Ramaphosa’s assertion that anti-immigration advocacy groups and protests are being orchestrated by elements seeking to destabilize the country for political power.

Insisting that her motivations are rooted purely in community safety rather than political ambition, she drew a distinction between political maneuvering and genuine civic distress.

"I can safely assure you that personally for myself, I have no desire to be in politics," she countered the assertion.

"And for me, a safer country for our children is what would make me happy," she stressed.

The crux of Ngobese-Zuma’s critique centers on what she describes as a severe failure of presidential briefing.

She maintains that if President Ramaphosa had personally investigated the Department of Home Affairs or toured the physical borders, he would know his proposed fixes are fundamentally un-implementable under current budgetary and technological constraints.

Exposing critical gaps in the country's enforcement framework, she revealed that the nation's borders are wide open, operating at only a fraction of what is required crucial aspects that address the problem.

According to Ngobese-Zuma, the border is currently operating at only 25% capacity, leaving 75% of South Africa’s borderline entirely unmonitored and open. Surveillance assets, like drones, are completely inadequate.

She added that at critical ports of entry, there is currently only one scanner machine available to process goods and people moving in and out of the country.

She argued that Ramaphosa’s pledge to scale up field operations clashes with the fact that there are only 800 immigration officers employed across the entire country.

The activist also pointed out that field officers lack mobile technological integrations. If an officer encounters a suspected undocumented individual, they cannot perform a digital check on their phone. Instead, individuals must be physically transported to a brick-and-mortar Home Affairs office just to check their legal status.

“The president doesn't understand the immigration crisis," Ngobese-Zuma said.

"First of all, he says that they're going to increase deportation and increase courts. That's not the issue... How does he envision being able to properly do deportations and verifications of these people? The solutions he's raising are impractical,” she stressed.

VPO