PHOTO CAPTION: TAURIG JENKINS, MEMBER OF THE ORGANISING COMMITEE
By Zubeida Jaffer
Close to 80 community groups across South Africa and beyond are launching an effort to unite Africa and mobilise against xenophobia on the eve of Women’s Day, 8 August 2026.
The coalition says rising anti‑migrant violence threatens African solidarity and must be answered with collective action for a united Africa and a recommitment to the philosophy of Ubuntu.
In Cape Town, a march will wind its way from District Six to the Home Affairs offices and to Parliament at 10am on Saturday.
According to a member of the organising committee, Tauriq Jenkins, the march challenges the politics of exclusion. “We will not allow scapegoating to hide the real theft of our land and resources. Migrant women and families are part of our communities — their safety is our fight.”
Operation Ubuntu is both a protest and declaration of pan‑African solidarity, demanding land, housing, dignity and justice. The coalition’s five non‑negotiable demands are: immediate action to end xenophobic attacks and protect migrant communities; rejection of the PIE Amendment Bill, which organisers say would enable mass evictions and corporate land grabs; an end to multinational extraction that strips Africa of its mineral wealth; a halt to the criminalisation of poverty; and urgent measures to end gender‑based violence so streets, homes and bodies become zones of protection, not terror.
The timing is deliberate. Mobilising on 8 August — the eve of Women’s Day — the coalition underscores that women’s safety is non‑negotiable and that migrant and local women, and their children, must be able to live free from fear.
“On the eve of Women’s Day we stand united — migrant women, local women, children — demanding safety, shelter and justice,” Jenkins said. “Silence is not an option.”
Participants are asked to wear red, symbolising blood, sacrifice and unity. Actions will run simultaneously in Johannesburg (Beyers Naudé Square, 9:30am).
Cape Town (CPUT Hanover Street, 10:00am) and Durban (Ethekwini Mayor’s Offices, 10:00am). The coalition has also called for an Africa‑wide vigil at 8:00pm CAT, urging streets across the continent to hold local solidarity events under the banner “Africa unite.”
Organisers argue that xenophobic violence diverts attention from systemic problems — inequality, corporate capture of resources and laws that ease evictions for private interests — and that only a united African response can confront those forces.
This article first at www.zubeidajaffer.co.za
