IN THE KNOW | SA belongs to its citizens, not foreigners — Joburg councillor

Mlungisi Mbaso of Johannesburg MMC Human Settlements does not agree with preamble in the constitution which states that “SA belongs to all who live in it”The IFP leader claimed that the phrase must be scrapped completely and rewritten in a way that declares that the nation belongs to its people.“That section which says SA belongs to all who live in it must be scrapped. It has to be amended. It must be explicit. It must say SA belongs to its citizens,” he said.Mabaso was speaking during an interview on the Sowetan’s podcast In The Know You can also find out more about the following: argued that the phrase is often “misrepresented” and “misinterpreted” He believes that some people do not want the country to progress.“I don’t like that [phrase] in the constitution, and I feel our leaders at the National Assembly must assist us to amend the constitution,” This section, which states that SA belongs to everyone who lives there, must be removed. This section must be changed. It must be clear. It must say SA belongs to its citizens—  Mlungisi Mabaso, Johannesburg MMC for human settlementsMabaso said the reason the phrase should be changed is because undocumented foreign nationals strain the country’s limited resources.“That section is misrepresented and used by people who do not want to see this country progressing. We can’t progress when we have not dealt with undocumented foreign nationals in the country. They are consuming our resources, which are very limited,” he said.In August, a video circulated on X in which Mabaso stated that he would not allow taxpayers’ money to be spent on undocumented foreign nationals living in informal settlements. In a clip filmed at his office, Mabaso said that he would not allow South Africans be disadvantaged. “at the expense” Mabaso, during the Sowetan Podcast interview, revealed that the migrants are undocumented. City Johannesburg is formalising the 254 informal communities, as well as several hijacked properties across the metro.“There are programmes we have initiated through the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant we receive from the national government. He said the grant is mainly to assist them in upgrading informal settlements and formalising them into established townships. “Out of the 254 informal settlements in the City of Johannesburg, we now have council resolutions to formalise and upgrade 181 of them. But due to limited resources, the current business plan focuses on 67 settlements,” he…

2025-11-28 04:00:01