March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma says the movement wants to learn from AfriForum as it seeks to move beyond street protests and build a powerful civic organisation capable of providing legal support, defending citizens’ rights and creating institutions for South Africans.
Ngobese-Zuma confirmed that March and March would meet with AfriForum on Tuesday, following the movement’s latest protest action in KwaZulu-Natal. She said the organisation was interested in understanding how AfriForum had developed its legal, educational and community structures over the years.
“We are going to take from the things that we can learn from AfriForum. I mean they are out there building universities for themselves, they are able to prosecute, they are able to have cases they solve for themselves. That’s what we want for ourselves, that’s a model that we want for black South Africans and South Africans in general as well,” Ngobese-Zuma said.
The comments come as March and March attempts to reposition itself as more than a protest movement. The organisation has established the SA First Forum, a social justice litigation body, as well as the March and March Foundation, which is intended to tackle social challenges affecting communities.
Ngobese-Zuma has made it clear that March and March does not want to become a political party. Instead, she believes the organisation can have greater influence by remaining outside party politics and representing South Africans regardless of which political party they support.
“Personally, I don’t feel that we’ll do them much justice if we become a political party. I feel they have a better chance of us listening to them if we’re not in political parties because we can listen to anyone from any political party with any concerns,” she said earlier this month.
She said the AfriForum model appealed to the movement because many South Africans do not know their legal rights and can therefore struggle to challenge institutions when they believe those rights have been violated.
“So yeah, I think with the AfriForum one, I can definitely confirm 100% that is the idea behind it,” Ngobese-Zuma said. “Because from the many instances we’ve seen, South Africans don’t know their rights. Because they don’t know even their most basic rights, they end up being abused by the very same system, from the police right through.”
She added: “You find that foreign nationals know our laws better than South Africans, and they capitalise on that.”
For Ngobese-Zuma, the ambition extends beyond legal battles. She wants March and March to eventually develop its own institutions and initiatives.
“We’re hoping to create a model where South Africans are able to build something similar to AfriForum, where eventually we can build our own schools and do our own proudly South African initiatives,” she said.
“That’s why we call our forum SA First Forum because it’s South Africans first. We come first in our country, and that’s what it’s all about.”
AfriForum was established in 2006 as a civil rights organisation and grew out of Solidarity’s efforts to mobilise Afrikaans-speaking communities around issues affecting their rights, language, culture and communities. The organisation has subsequently developed a broad network of branches, members and community initiatives and has become particularly known for litigation, lobbying, campaigns and community activism.
Its stated focus includes protecting the rights and interests of Afrikaners and other minority communities, while campaigning on issues such as language and culture, education, community safety and local government accountability. Its legal strategy has also made it a prominent player in South Africa’s civil society landscape.
It is this institutional approach that March and March appears keen to replicate, although the two organisations have very different histories, constituencies and political identities.
March and March emerged in 2025 under Ngobese-Zuma and gained national attention through protests focused primarily on undocumented immigration and the government’s handling of migration. The movement has since expanded its demands to include broader questions around jobs, public services, crime, government accountability and the rights of South African citizens.
Its protests have drawn significant crowds but have also attracted criticism, with opponents accusing the movement of promoting xenophobic sentiment. Ngobese-Zuma has rejected the accusation and maintains that March and March’s focus is on undocumented immigration and government enforcement of the law rather than hostility towards people because of their nationality.
The movement’s decision to create a legal forum represents a significant shift from protest politics towards institutional activism. Ngobese-Zuma said the SA First Forum would provide legal assistance to South Africans who cannot afford lawyers and would take legal action where necessary.
“This forum will provide justice to the poorest South Africans, for whom justice has remained a distant dream for many years,” she said.
She said the forum would become “the vanguard of South African citizens” and would, where necessary, pursue cases involving people or institutions that exploit or disadvantage vulnerable South Africans.
The first case, according to Ngobese-Zuma, would concern a South African Police Service circular that the organisation believes is unconstitutional.
The March and March Foundation is intended to tackle social problems beyond immigration, including drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, poverty, education and community development.
Ngobese-Zuma said the movement’s longer-term objective was to create structures that could make a tangible difference in people’s lives rather than simply organise demonstrations.
The timing of the move comes as March and March continues its campaign against undocumented immigration and has taken its message to the streets during the Southern African Development Community summit in Durban. On Monday, Ngobese-Zuma again criticised regional leaders and the South African government over migration policy, while insisting that the movement would continue putting pressure on authorities.
The meeting with AfriForum could therefore mark an important moment for March and March as it tries to turn the energy behind its protests into a permanent civic infrastructure.
For Ngobese-Zuma, the lesson is not necessarily about copying AfriForum’s politics or identity, but about building the capacity to represent a constituency through courts, community structures, education and long-term advocacy.
“We are not negotiating anymore about who we are in our own country. We’ve done that for many years, and now it’s time for that to end,” she said.
