“It Means the Buses Never Left”: Informal Traders Repopulate Johannesburg CBD Streets, SA Stunned

• Two men filmed a congested Johannesburg CBD, shocked that foreign nationals had returned to the streets after the March and March protests
• The men jokingly called for protest organiser Phakelumthakathi to come back and address the situation
• South Africans online were stunned to see the city centre as crowded as ever, feeling like nothing had changed

Two Johannesburg men captured what they could not believe with their own eyes. Filming in the middle of a packed CBD on 4 July 2026, they drove down a street filled with informal traders and pedestrians, expressing their disbelief that things had returned to exactly as they looked before the March and March protests. The demonstrations, which drew large crowds earlier in 2026, were organised to pressure the government into acting against illegal immigration.

Calls for Phakelumthakathi to return

One of the men in TikTok user @mthobisi788's video called out for Phakelumthakathi, one of the key organisers behind the March and March movement, joking that he needed to see what was happening on the ground. Their tone was light, but the message behind it was clear: in their view, the gains from the protest had evaporated.

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The clip spread quickly, with viewers reacting to how the situation appeared to have regressed. Many who watched felt the march had achieved little in the long run, while others debated what realistic change could look like.

User @Sthandwasezulu added:

"It means it's true that the buses never left."

User @Ronnie M shared:

"This is disrespectful."

User @❌⭕️ commented:

"They need to stop announcing dates on a random Wednesday nje without telling anyone ba marche coz if they know the dates they just stay at home."

User @Sean said:

"We're not going anywhere."

User @𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓜 wrote:

"Leave them alone."

User @Ngwana wa ha Sephoke shared:

"It means that we have got a long way to go."

3 Briefly News articles about 'mabahambe' protests

• A young South African man shared a TikTok video celebrating that he finally secured employment after the 30 June march, sparking an online debate.
• A Johannesburg man went around his neighbourhood checking which spaza shops were still open during the "mabahambe" protests and ordered them to close.
• A group of foreign nationals were escorted out of KwaZulu-Natal after community members were told that there were no keys to open the door at the neighbourhood home.

Source: Briefly News