'Leave With Them': Protester's Remarks About SA Women With Foreign Partners Leave Mzansi Divided

• A video from a Bloemfontein protest against undocumented foreign nationals showed a demonstrator making a striking remark aimed at South African women
• The protester said in Sesotho that SA women who have children with foreign nationals should leave South Africa and go live in their partners' home countries
• The comment sparked fierce backlash online, with many South Africans saying the march had nothing to do with jobs and everything to do with hatred

BLOEMFONTEIN - A protester at a Bloemfontein demonstration against undocumented foreign nationals made a remark that stopped many South Africans in their tracks.

A video shared on 13 July 2026 by X user @Sello_Libram captured the moment one of the demonstrators addressed the crowd in Sesotho, directing his words squarely at South African women in relationships with foreign men.

The man said the women must go to their countries to go "cook for their mothers-in-law and sweep their mothers-in-law's courtyards."

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" It is time now, we plead with you," he said

See video here:

The video spread quickly, drawing sharp responses from people who felt the comment crossed a line from protesting undocumented migration into something far more personal.

Social media reacts

@PenAndPills wrote:

"Imagine chasing your sister away from home because she marries outside the family? 🤦"

@wesley95778948 asked:

"What about SA men with children from foreigners or it only applies to women?"

@Bigboycrest said:

"So it was never really about jobs. Just hatred."

@LugileK added:

"Absent father syndrome is real. People who don't know the value of a father and mother together raising kids will always utter nonsense to feel good."

@PercyShayamunda offered a different kind of response altogether:

"Guys get jobs or start projects so you can create legacies for your families. There is 0 benefit in these marches."

Protests against undocumented foreign nationals have continued in various parts of the country, but moments like this one have reignited debate about whether the demonstrations are rooted in economic concern or something else entirely.

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3 articles on protests against undocumented foreign nationals

• Briefly News reported that a man in camouflage clothing led an anti-foreigner march through Mopedi Section in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, warning landlords against harbourign foreign nationals.
• March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma launched weekly Thursday marches in uMthwalume, KZN, to pressure the government on undocumented foreign nationals.
• The leader of the Basotho National Party, Machesetsa Mofomobe, claimed that the South African government is backing anti migrant protests targeting Basotho nationals

Source: Briefly News