By: Saneliso Mlambo
Politics is often won without a fight. Sometimes all it takes is one meeting. That is the question hanging over March and March after Ngizwe Mchunu and Nkosikhona “Phakel’umthakathi” Ndabandaba met President Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of the June 30 march. Since then, the movement has gone from putting government under pressure to fighting itself.
Before that meeting, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma and March and March dominated the national conversation on illegal immigration. Afterwards, Ngobese-Zuma publicly questioned the meeting, saying she had repeatedly sought an audience with Ramaphosa but was never invited. Weeks later, the movement issued a media statement announcing it was severing operational ties with Mchunu, accusing him of conduct that undermined the organisation following an internal governance investigation.
Mchunu did not stay silent. He hit back publicly, criticised Ngobese-Zuma and Phakel’umthakathi, argued that “we can’t march forever” and insisted engagement with government was necessary. Overnight, the movement’s biggest battle was no longer with government, but with itself.
Coincidence? Perhaps. But politics is judged by outcomes, not intentions. Today, Ramaphosa’s government is under less pressure over illegal immigration, while March and March is consumed by media statements, interviews and internal warfare.
Whether the meeting exposed existing cracks or created new ones, one fact is difficult to ignore: government is no longer on the defensive.