JOHANNESBURG - Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie has warned his supporters not to join planned anti-immigration marches.
It comes as groups target undocumented migrants, with tensions now at a boiling point after police clashed with Malawian migrants waiting to return home.
At the centre of the demonstrations is a widely shared perception among some South Africans that migrants are putting pressure on already strained public services.
But McKenzie is urging citizens not to take the law into their own hands, claiming that foreigners are trying to return home safely.
READ | Violence erupts between police and Malawians in Durban
He also argued that political actors are amplifying these grievances, reiterating that the Patriotic Alliance will not be part of the violence or vigilante action.
"I don't want to see a PA member at March and March," McKenzie said.
"I am not a leader that wants to be fashionable like Mashaba by leading my people to jail, who is going to bail you out? We don't want those things, this is our country, we love this country, you must behave."
"As a leader of the PA, I'm telling every PA member to not assault children, do not assault illegal foreigners, that is not who we are, you must not go with the hype, we are not ActionSA, we want nothing to do with March to March, I am telling you today, stay far away."