My fellow South Africans,
I address you today from Gqeberha, the only major city in this country where no xenophobic violence occurred during the recent unrest.
We are proud that our community chose unity over division. We are proud that our people refused to be used as pawns in a foreign conspiracy.
But let us not pretend that all is well.
The Pan Africanist Congress views the current government as a failed state.
It has failed to protect the citizens of this country.
It has failed to protect our national interests.
It has failed to hold anyone accountable for corruption.
And it has failed to remedy the persistence of racism among the population.
SA has endured two of the most devastating financial scandals in modern history.
Between 2007 and 2013, 28 international and local banks [allegedly] colluded to manipulate the USD/ZAR exchange rate.
Currency trading amounted to about R1-trillion daily during this period.
The Competition Commission found that the manipulation skewed about R35-trillion in trade flows and inflicted permanent structural damage on the currency.
[However, Business Day reported on June 30 that the Constitutional Court delivered a judgment effectively clearing the three SA banks implicated in the saga and that the commission’s appeal against most of the banks had failed, though it may pursue cases against certain of the multinational banks].
Citibank settled and paid R69.5m in 2017.
Standard Chartered admitted liability and agreed to pay a R42.7m penalty in 2023.
To this day, the executives responsible have not been prosecuted.
The Gupta state capture scandal unfolded between 2011 and 2018.
The Zondo commission found that more than R57bn in public funds was tainted by state capture, with the Gupta family raking in at least R15.5bn in profits.
The primary sites of looting were Transnet and Eskom.
The Gupta family, during the tenure of former president Jacob Zuma, [allegedly] used companies including Oakbay Investments, Tegeta Exploration, Sahara Computers, Regiments Capital and Trillian Capital to plunder state resources.
To this day, few have faced justice.
The combined losses from these scandals exceed R200bn drained from the economy; money that could have funded schools, hospitals and infrastructure. And still, accountability remains elusive.
Yet in 2026, the March and March movement chose to mobilise thousands not against banks or corrupt elites, but against undocumented immigrants.
The March and March protests on June 30 required the government to allocate R600m for policing alone.
Businesses closed, immigrant-owned shops were looted, transport was blocked, and households lost wages and faced higher costs.
Instead of fighting corruption, the movement deepened xenophobia and destabilised communities.
The movement chose the wrong target.
Immigrants were scapegoated while banks and corrupt elites escaped mass protest.
They chose the wrong fight.
Energy spent on divisive marches could have pressured the government to prosecute financial crimes.
And they achieved the wrong outcome.
Ordinary South Africans bore the brunt again through lost income, disrupted services and rising costs.
March and March did not offer solutions.
They used the people’s legitimate anger against them.
Your anger is real.
The banking scandal, the Gupta scandal, land issues, economic inequality: these are legitimate grievances.
You were failed. You were betrayed. Your anger is justified.
But your anger has been weaponised against you.
March and March did not help the people.
The real enemy is not the foreign national.
The real enemy is the opportunistic politician who sells out the people for money.
The real enemy is the corrupt system that steals from the people.
The real enemy is the failed state that refuses to protect its citizens or hold anyone accountable.
When South Africans stand together against foreign interference, against corruption, against inequality, we are unstoppable.
This is the Pan Africanist vision.
This is the true liberation struggle.
Xenophobia is not African.
It is a foreign tool to divide us.
When we fight each other, we become weak.
When we stand together, we are unbreakable.
It is not too late to step back.
It is not too late to choose your country over foreign interference.
It is not too late to be the person your ancestors would be proud of.
Those who stole from us must be held accountable.
Those who sold our country must be held accountable.
The promise of land reform must be kept.
Justice must be delivered.
In Gqeberha, our community refused to be divided. We chose peace over violence.
We proved that unity works.
We proved that peace is possible.
Let the rest of the nation follow our example. Let the rest of the nation choose unity.
We stand together, South African and foreign national, black and white, rich and poor.
We stand together against those who seek to destroy us.
This is our country. This is our continent. And we will defend it.
Choose unity. Choose peace. Choose justice. Choose Africa.
- Farook Mohammed, PAC spokesperson, Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay
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