Kaya Drive host Sizwe Dhlomo yesterday invited Operation Dudula leader Nhlanhla Lux for a candid conversation about his group’s recent activities against foreign nationals whom they reportedly terrorize and accuse of grabbing jobs in South Africa that are supposed to be occupied by local youths.
Always being politically aware, Lux got into activism from his days at university. Studying at the University of Johannesburg, the 35-year old used his voice when he was a student to tackle issues of racism and inequality.
The Operation Dudula leader said he’s content with what he’s doing and apart from his on-the-ground work to eradicate criminal activities in townships, Lux is also a businessman.
Growing up in Soweto, Lux said a tough upbringing from sleeping on the floor of his family’s modest township home, meant he was forced from a young age to adapt in order to survive.
Trained as a commercial pilot, Nhlanhla Lux Dlamini could not easily find employment in South Africa as a pilot, sharing with the radio personality that it’s just not a viable option for a black person to break even in aviation. However, he is now filthy rich and he runs his own aviation company among other businesses.
“If you don’t have networks, it’s not easy to get into this niche market. Maybe if I had the connections people seem to think I have, I would have been able to make it big as a pilot. But when you don’t come from money, it’s virtually impossible.â€
LUX’S DAD USED TO PULL OFF CIT HEISTS
Nhlanhla Lux Mohlauli opened up to Sizwe that his late dad used to pull off cash-in-transit heists.
“I found out much later that my dad was involved in CIT heists. This is how he paid off my school fees 5-years in advance.â€
His dad influenced him in many ways, which is why Lux decided to start Operation Dudula. The name itself means to “repel†or “beat back†which is the loose Zulu translation.
Lux doesn’t consider his group a vigilante group, explaining that they are accompanied by police to each location. He denied that the Operation Dudula Movement was a vigilante grouping, comparing it to Pagad.
“A lot of people are trying to miscontrue what we are. We cannot be a vigilante group… When people are trying to enforce the law without authority, those people are taking things in their own hands without guidance, so that’s what a loose definition of what a vigilante group would do.
“With Operation Dudula you will always see a cop in sight, we always plan an operation with the SAPS or the Metro Police and they are part of the operation. All our arrests are handled by the SAPS… There is a gap in our society that nobody wants to deal with and we were brave enough to say enough is enough and we are challenging it alongside Put SA First and alot of civic movements that are aligned with our thinking and philosophies,†he said.
And speaking on eNCA late on Thursday night, he said he would allow the law to take its place.
The group says it’s tired of illegal foreigners competing with locals for scarce resources. It wants to push them out of South Africa.
Dudula is led by an eloquent man in his late 20s, Nhlanhla Lux, who’s conspicuous in his military fatigues and dark sunglasses. He said his movement is behaving “responsibly†by targeting only “undocumented†migrants.
The group’s focus is directed especially at migrants who have established businesses in townships. On March 21, in Thokoza, east of Johannesburg, crowds of locals rampaged through the district, destroying shops and roadside stalls.
The anti-foreigner operations that have a measure of organization and discipline, such as Dudula, are splintering into loose mobs of younger unemployed people, some appearing to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs. It’s a situation that’s forcing many migrants into hiding.
However, Sizwe Dhlomo questioned who authorises Operation Dudula’s activities because private property cannot be searched unless there’s a search warrant.
Lux and his group were accused of unlawfully searching people’s homes and seizing property without search warrants.
According to Nhlanhla Lux what his group is doing cannot be considered criminal activity because they are working towards removing crime on the streets.
Speaking about the incident this weekend at Dobsonville where Operation Dudula were accused of gaining entry into an elderly man’s home without a search warrant, Lux said he couldn’t answer for SAPS why there wasn’t a search warrant.
