Protest is both a right and a responsibility

My Fellow South African, 

Yesterday, 30 June, marked the date that several groupings have identified for protests against undocumented immigration in South Africa.  

South Africans have raised deep concerns about illegal immigration, border management, pressure on public services, criminal syndicates that exploit our immigration system and the impact these challenges have on communities. These concerns are real and they deserve to be heard.

The right to protest is enshrined in our Constitution. It is a credit to our robust democratic order that people are able to express their grievances openly. But the right to protest and freedom of expression does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence. 

South Africa is a constitutional republic governed by the rule of law. The exercise of rights by any citizen in a constitutional democracy cannot be determined by intimidation, threats or ultimatums. It must be determined through democratic institutions, evidence and the rule of law.

What we should seek as citizens and as a society is to work together to address the legitimate concerns that many South Africans have raised. Government has a responsibility not only to listen to these concerns but to respond with effective action. Citizens have a responsibility to pursue change peacefully and within the framework of our Constitution.

Government has accepted that our immigration system requires substantial reform. We are strengthening border management, increasing enforcement against undocumented immigration, improving the integrity of the asylum and visa systems, and taking action against corruption that has weakened immigration control.

We also recognise that where our systems have failed, they must be corrected. Where corruption has enabled illegal immigration, those responsible must be held accountable. Where enforcement has been inadequate, it must improve.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen support for these measures and for government’s stance from across society. We have held meetings with the country’s traditional monarchs and other traditional and Khoi-San leaders, with trade union and business leaders, with the religious community and with other formations in society. 

Freedom comes with responsibility. The right to protest is one of the defining freedoms of our democracy, but every right carries corresponding responsibilities. Those who intend to protest should do so peacefully, lawfully and with respect for the rights, dignity and safety of others.

Where there is criminal conduct, those responsible will be held accountable and the law will take its course. We must reject the idea that acts of violence or intimidation are justified on the basis of a grievance, for political reasons, or because those who commit such acts claim they were somehow provoked. 

Some foreign nationals who live in South Africa are here lawfully. They work, study, raise families, invest in our economy and contribute positively to our society. They too are entitled to the protection of our laws and our Constitution.

We welcome the assurances by some of the organisers of the planned protests that they stand against violence on the part of their supporters. They will be held to this undertaking, because no cause, no matter how legitimate, will be an excuse to shift responsibility for violent acts. 

We further welcome the support received from traditional, religious and community leaders, from business, labour and civil society organisations that have called for tolerance and respect for the rule of law. 

Achieving a legitimate end does not justify unlawful means, whether it is reform of the country’s immigration frameworks or better service delivery.  

The painful history of the pass laws reminds us why the authority to demand identification and enforce immigration laws belongs to government law-enforcement officers acting within the Constitution—not to private individuals. Whatever the motivation, taking the law into one’s own hands is vigilantism and has no place in our constitutional democracy.

This is a betrayal of the very constitutional order those who commit such acts claim to be defending. It is vigilantism thinly disguised in the language of patriotism. 

We must never allow ourselves to return to that painful chapter of our history where people were stopped on the street, had their physical identities scrutinised, and their right to move freely in the country hindered by suspicion and humiliation. 

Our country’s law-enforcement authorities stand ready in defence of the rule of law. Let us work together to keep communities, businesses and individuals safe, all the while protecting people’s right to protest.  

Throughout our history we have overcome difficult moments not through fear or division, but by choosing law over lawlessness, dialogue over confrontation and justice over vengeance. Let us once again choose that path. Let us protect both our borders and our Constitution, both our security and our humanity. We are capable of doing both, and we must.