Anti-apartheid activist and former student leader Mogomotsi Mogodiri has delivered a stinging open letter to Acting Police Minister Professor Firoz Cachalia, warning his former liberation comrade against using state power to suppress the planned June 30 anti-illegal immigration protests.
Mogodiri, an ANC member, former political detainee, ex-MK combatant and former government official, opened the eight-page letter with a deeply personal appeal rooted in their shared history in the anti-apartheid struggle.
“Dear Comrade Cachalia, I am advisedly deliberate in not addressing you as the acting minister of police, as the bureaucratic title might inhibit our brutal, honest but collegial conversation that we urgently need to have as cadres of the oldest liberation movement in Africa,” he wrote.
‘Unbreakable bond of camaraderie’
Reminding Cachalia of the bond forged during the darkest years of apartheid, Mogodiri added: “It is common cause that we both occupied liberation war trenches at the height of apartheid colonial oppression and repression during the 1980s… The struggles we waged together made us develop a bond of camaraderie that was next to impossible to break.”
The letter follows Cachalia’s announcement that the government had mobilised about R600-million to prepare for possible disruptions linked to the June 30 demonstrations.
The June 30 demonstrations are being organised by a coalition of 27 civic organisations campaigning for stricter enforcement of South Africa’s immigration laws. Organisers insist the marches are aimed at undocumented immigrants rather than foreign nationals in general and have repeatedly rejected accusations of xenophobia.
Mogodiri said he admired Cachalia during their years as student activists at the University of the Witwatersrand, where they served in the Black Students Society and AZASO before becoming involved in broader mass democratic movement structures, including the United Democratic Front.
“I admired your resolve and commitment to the cause for true independence and justice. You were fearless, spoke your mind with clarity and were impressively principled,” Mogodiri wrote before accusing the acting minister of abandoning those same principles.
‘Government must side with SA citizens’
He criticised the government for prioritising preparations to police the protests instead of tackling illegal immigration, securing the country’s borders and strengthening law enforcement.
“Government needs to hold hands with SA citizens… to fix our country,” he wrote, proposing tougher border security, increased immigration enforcement, mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and greater investment in policing and the Department of Home Affairs.
Earlier this week, the coalition signed a peace declaration committing participants to non-violent demonstrations, rejecting looting, vandalism and intimidation.
Government vows clampdown on lawlessness
Government, meanwhile, has warned it will not tolerate lawlessness, with Cachalia announcing that about R600-million has been mobilised to support policing and security operations during the nationwide protests.
In one of the letter’s sharpest warnings, Mogodiri urged Cachalia to abandon what he described as a confrontational approach.
“As you are well aware Comrade Firoz, there is no winner in a war. The warmongering has to stop,” he wrote, arguing that the June 30 movement had repeatedly committed itself to peaceful protest.
He ended the letter by urging his former comrade to “be the bigger person” and allow “sanity” to prevail through dialogue rather than confrontation.
- Anti-apartheid activist Mogomotsi Mogodiri wrote an open letter to Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, warning against using state power to suppress the June 30 anti-illegal immigration protests.
- Mogodiri reminded Cachalia of their shared history in the liberation struggle and criticized him for allegedly abandoning his principled stance on justice and independence.
- The letter condemned the government's focus on policing the protests rather than addressing illegal immigration, urging tougher border security, mass deportations, and increased enforcement.
- The planned June 30 protests, organized by 27 civic groups, aim at undocumented immigrants specifically and insist on peaceful, non-violent demonstrations.
- The government has allocated about R600 million for policing and security during the protests, with Cachalia warning of zero tolerance for lawlessness, while Mogodiri urges dialogue over confrontation.
Anti-apartheid activist and former student leader Mogomotsi Mogodiri has delivered a stinging open letter to
Mogodiri, an ANC member, former political detainee, ex-MK combatant and former government official, opened the eight-page letter with a deeply personal appeal rooted in their shared history in the anti-apartheid struggle.
"Dear Comrade Cachalia, I am advisedly deliberate in not addressing you as the acting minister of police, as the bureaucratic title might inhibit our brutal, honest but collegial conversation that we urgently need to have as cadres of the oldest liberation movement in Africa," he wrote.
Mogodiri said he admired Cachalia during their years as student activists at the University of the
"I admired your resolve and commitment to the cause for true independence and justice. You were fearless, spoke your mind with clarity and were impressively principled," Mogodiri wrote before accusing the acting minister of abandoning those same principles.
He criticised the government for prioritising preparations to police the protests instead of tackling illegal immigration, securing the country's borders and strengthening law enforcement.
"Government needs to hold hands with SA citizens... to fix our country," he wrote, proposing tougher border security, increased immigration enforcement, mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and greater investment in policing and the Department of Home Affairs.
Earlier this week, the coalition signed a peace declaration committing participants to non-violent demonstrations, rejecting looting, vandalism and intimidation.
Government, meanwhile, has warned it will not tolerate lawlessness, with Cachalia announcing that about R600-million has been mobilised to support policing and security operations during the nationwide protests.
In one of the letter's sharpest warnings, Mogodiri urged Cachalia to abandon what he described as a confrontational approach.
"As you are well aware Comrade Firoz, there is no winner in a war.
He ended the letter by urging his former comrade to "be the bigger person" and allow "sanity" to prevail through dialogue rather than confrontation.
