Jacinta Ngobese denied knowing that her colleagues Ngizwe Mchunu and Phakelumthakathi were meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa. Like everyone else, she supposedly found out about the engagement through social media in a post. There has been a lot of public talk about the meeting that happened before the anti-illegal immigration protests on June 30th, and Ngobese’s apparent distance from it has added another layer to the story.
According to the research, there may have been a schism or a failure to communicate among the movement’s top brass on the organization of the countrywide marches. While meeting with Ramaphosa, Mchunu and Phakelumthakathi allegedly kept another important campaign figure in the dark, according to Ngobese. She seemed to be trying to distance herself from the engagement, which had already come under fire for its amicable aspect, by publicly claiming that the meeting took her off guard.
The public’s response to Ngobese’s statement revolved around the apparent lack of unity it exposed. Despite being uninformed of the negotiations that had taken place the night before, Ngobese was leading marches on the ground on 30 June, while Mchunu and Phakelumthakathi were spotted smiling with the president. Protesters against illegal immigration were concerned about the movement’s future direction and leadership’s consistency in light of the disjointed efforts.
The protestors were already in the spotlight due to their encounter with Ramaphosa and his reaction. The story surrounding the events of the day becomes even more disjointed as Ngobese supposedly denied any role or knowledge. People are starting to understand that the campaign’s leading figures aren’t as united as they seemed; it seems like they aren’t sharing information with each other.