Sticks are part of our culture: Ngobese-Zuma

Sticks are part of our culture: Ngobese-Zuma Siya Tsewu Sat, 10/31/2026 - 12:52

Protestors from the anti-illegal immigration group, March and March Movement chant slogans and march outside the Department of Home Affairs Refugee Reception Centre during a demonstration at the Che Guevara Road in Durban, on October 8, 2026.

Protestors from the anti-illegal immigration group, March and March Movement chant slogans and march outside the Department of Home Affairs Refugee Reception Centre during a demonstration at the Che Guevara Road in Durban, on October 8, 2026.

JOHANNESBURG - March and March rejects the latest court ruling, insisting that protest restrictions threaten cultural identity and undermine the right to peaceful assembly.

A High Court ruling has permitted the group to march, but only under strict conditions.

Leader Jacinta Ngobese criticised the ban on sticks, arguing it ignores their cultural significance.

She also challenges why police need weapons at peaceful demonstrations.

"Police as well shouldn't carry weapons because they do intimidate the crowds with those same weapons that they carry as the police. Because if it is a peaceful protest and nobody's carrying sticks, as you say, then why would you need to carry guns? But on top of that, there's another issue of sticks generally being a reflection of our culture, of who we are as Zulu people. Not only just Zulu people, but as African people.

"So the courts also need to be cognizant of that, that you can't strip us away of our identity because you want to fuel a narrative that doesn't exist. For 21 months, we've marched with those sticks and there have been very few incidents of anything happening unless there were times where foreign nationals themselves provoked the situations. But those situations are never covered on the media, which is what we are complaining about.

"That nobody carries sticks because they're trying to intimidate people or scare people or beat up people. We carry those sticks because it's part of our culture and that needs to be emphasized. We can't be adopting and accepting Western ways of doing life just because of fears that the government have when they can sit down with the people and solve those problems and allow people to protest the way that they know how to."